Temple painting_ROM_composite 20 April 2025 2

Homage to the Highest Power. This is an enormous painting, 306.5 cm high (3.35 yards) and 1042 cm (11.395 yards) in length. I stitched it together from three frames, but as they were not all exactly at the same distance and angle the joints are pretty shaky and not anywhere near as precise as they should be, but this was the only way I could even hint at the scale of the painting. It is one of a pair of wall paintings currently in the Royal Ontario Museum that came originally from a temple in southern Shanxi province. It was created during the late Yuan dynasty, c. 1271–1368, using pigments mixed with clay and plaster. (Information from Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homage_to_the_Highest_Power). The painting shows “a procession of Daoist deities and their celestial attendants, sometimes referred to as Chaoyuan tu or the 'Heavenly Court'. These deities, whose court is modeled on the bureaucratic structure of the earthly world, are said to maintain the order of nature and to govern the welfare of human beings”. Although it is rather formal, the painting is brimming with action, the character skillfully captured with a facial expression or gesture. The paintings were purchased in 1937 from a New York based art dealer, Yamanaka and Company. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bishop_White_Gallery_of_Chinese_Temple_Art