Analytic Essay on the Domestic Statuary of Central Hunan: The Cult to Divinities, Parents, and Masters

Journal of Chinese Religions 36 (2008) 1 Analytic Essay on the Domestic Statuary of Central Hunan: The Cult to Divinities, Parents, and Masters ALAIN ARRAULT Ecole française d’Extrême-Orient (EFEO) University of Liège (Belgium) Introduction Thanks to the financial support of the CCK Foundation and the Beaufour-Ipsen Tianjin Pharmaceutical Co., the Beijing Centre of the Ecole Française d’Extrême-Orient has been engaged in a research project entitled “Taoism and Local Society,” since 2002. The project was based on the computerized cataloging of three collections of polychrome wood statuettes originating in the Hunan region. Two are private collections and the third belongs to the Hunan Provincial Museum, the same that houses the Mawangdui relics. At this point, the cataloguing of two collections is complete, that of Patrice Fava (hereafter noted as PF) and that of the Museum (hereafter noted as MH). 1 Other than their differing origins, the particularity of these collections—compared to the one constituted by De Groot at the turn of the 20th century in the Fujian area, which one can visit in Lyon and in Leiden2 —resides in the fact that the statuettes have been consecrated and that they contain an yizhi 意旨 (consecration certificate) precisely indicating the name of the statuette, those who commissioned it, the This paper was translated into English by Daniel Burton-Rose. John Lagerwey has kindly read this article and made very helpful remarks and suggestions; David Palmer and James Robson carefully corrected and amended the last version. I also benefited from two anonymous reviewers’ corrections. 1 See Arrault ed, in collaboration with Michela Bussotti, Patrice Fava, Li Feng, Zhang Yao et al, Les statuettes religieuses du Hunan. 1. La collection Patrice Fava, and Alain Arrault ed, in collaboration with Michela Bussotti, Deng Zhaohui, Li Feng, Shen Jinxian, Zhang Yao, Les statuettes religieuses du Hunan. 2. La collection du musée du Hunan. Two other collections are currently being catalogued: one belonging to Yan Xinyuan, a private collector from Hunan (cataloguing by the present author); and one belonging to an American antique dealer in Milwaukee (cataloguing by James Robson). 2 These two collections are stored at the Muséum d’histoire naturelle de Lyon and the National Museum of Ethnology in Leiden. A catalogue of these approximately 250 statuettes is published in Z. Werblowski, “Catalogue of the Pantheon of Fujian Popular Religion”, p. 111-186. An exhibition was held in 2003 at the Muséum d’Histoire naturelle de Lyon, cf. Emmons, Dieux de Chine. 2 Journal of Chinese Religions sculptors, the precise location of the home where it was installed, the reason for the cult, the date of consecration, and generally a series of talismans intended to invoke the divinities.3 Based on the data currently at our disposal, we propose, first of all, to present these statuettes from a quantitative, temporal and geographical point of view, and secondly, to do a preliminary analysis of the three types of cults which are evoked in them: cults to divinities, parents and masters. 1. General Presentation 1.1. Cataloguing In order to cross-analyze all the statuettes, we used a computerized relational database, with the format, entries and functions created for this purpose. Each statuette and its content has a corresponding data-card divided in two parts: in addition to the cataloguing number,4 the first part provides the origin, place of acquisition and identity of the person to whom it was dedicated, information on the material aspect of the statuette, the size, the physical attributes—which include the “magical gestures” (shoujue 手訣) and a precise description concerning the quality and the nature of the sculpture, the coloring and other details that reveal the different stages of manufacture—the clothes and the headgear. This part closes with an inventory of objects (consecration certificate, medicinal packets, paper money, etc.) found in the cache in the back of the statuette. The second part contains an inventory of all the information provided on the consecration certificate (see Pl. 1a), beginning with the nature of the writing itself (handwritten or printed), the address of the donor(s), as well as his or their names, the name of the religious lineage, the...