Laozi at the Western Pass
Description
Laozi meaning "Old Master" was a legendary Daoist philosopher and alleged author of the Daodejing, a primary Daoist writing that present-day scholarship considers possibily to have been written by more one person. By the first century B.C., in the earliest known biographical account of Laozi in the Shi ji (Records of the Grand Historian, ca. 90–104 B.C.) by Sima Qian (145–89 B.C.), Laozi's surname was Li, and his given name was Er. The biography reports that Laozi served as an archivist for the state of Zhou and notes that Laozi and Confucius reportedly met. Sima Qian relates that when the Zhou state was in decline, Laozi decided to leave China for the West. Upon he reached the mountain pass at the western border, Yin Xi the keeper of the pass asked Laozi write down his teachings, so that could be retained in China. Accordingly, Laozi is said to have written the Daodejing in two parts, discussing the ideas of the Way and of Virtue.
In this painting, Laozi rides in an ox-drawn cart accompanied by four attendants. Behind them can be seen mountains, forest trees, stream, and walled battlements in the mist. Before the cart stands Yin Xi with his hands respectfully clasped in front of him. This rare depiction of this meeting in the western pass can be stylistically compared to Ming paintings, including those by Wang Shichang (1462–after 1531), so it likely dates to the sixteenth century.
