The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Figure of Daoist Immortal He Xiangu

1700s

China, Qing dynasty

(1644-1911)
Boxwood with colored ivory base
Overall: 13.5 cm (5 5/16 in.)
Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1976.60
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Her basket contains plants and herbs used by Daoists for attempting to achieve immortality.

Description

He Xiangu is one of the Eight Immortals in the Daoist pantheon. She was thought to have been a real person who lived in the Tang dynasty, originally named He Qiong. As a teenager, she was instructed in a dream to eat powdered mica to become immune from death and to vow to remain unmarried. She did so and became an enlightened practitioner of Daoism.

In this delicate carving, He Xiangu is placidly seated in a gnarled and knotty wooden raft amid green-tinted ivory waves. In front of her rests a bamboo basket filled with objects associated with Daoist immortality, while she holds a branch of lingzhi fungus.
  • ?–1976
    (Tokyo Gallery Limited, London, England, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1970–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. “The Year in Review for 1976.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 64, no. 2 (February 1977): 39–78. Mentioned: p. 79, no. 167; Reproduced: p. 65, no. 167 www.jstor.org
    Little, Stephen. Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China: the Cleveland Museum of Art, February 10-April 10, 1988. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1988. cat. no. 15, p. 43
    Watson, William, and Chuimei Ho. The Arts of China After 1620. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 116, fig. 135
    Spee, Clarissa von. "Arts of Asia fiftieth anniversary: featuring fifty favorite objects: selected by experts in the Asian art world." Arts of Asia 50, no. 1 (January/February 2020): 57–110. Reproduced: p. 106; Mentioned: p. 106
    Arts of Asia. [Kowloon, Hong Kong]: [Arts of Asia Publications], 1971. v. 50:no. 1(2020:Jan./Feb.) Mentioned and reproduced: p. 106
    Spee, Clarissa von. “Four Curators, Four Favorites.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 62, no. 2 (2022): 31. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 31
    Von Spee, Clarissa. "Art In New Dimensions: Chinese Miniature and Small Objects at the Cleveland Museum of Art." Arts of Asia 52, no. 4 (Winter 2022): 117-121. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 120, fig. 8
  • China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 11, 2022-February 26, 2023).
    Main Asian Gallery Rotation (Gallery 122). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 30, 1999-April 7, 2004).
    Scholar's Studio. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 19-December 17, 1989).
    Realm of the Immortals: Daoism in the Arts of China. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 10-April 10, 1988).
    Year in Review, 1976. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 1-March 6, 1977).
  • {{cite web|title=Figure of Daoist Immortal He Xiangu|url=false|author=|year=1700s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1976.60