The Taoist Star Lords of Happiness, High Salary, and Long Life

Published in

Norton Museum of Art

4 min readJan 27, 2021

Featuring works by Asian artists in response to spiritual concepts, the exhibition “Divine Beings: China at the Center of Cross-Currents in Asian Art” spotlights exceptional works along with more than 30 selected works from the Norton’s collection.

The work featured in this post will be on view until February 11, 2021, while other works in “Divine Beings: China at the Center of Cross-Currents in Asian Art” will be on view until February 28, 2021.

By Laurie Barnes 潘筱莉, Elizabeth B. McGraw Curator of Chinese Art, Norton Museum of Art

ZHAO CHANGGUO 趙昌國, active 1500s
Taoist Immortals Playing Weiqi in Autumn Mountains 秋山仙奕圖, 1500s,
Ming Dynasty
Hanging scroll, ink on paper, overall: 96 × 35 3/8 in,
Purchase, acquired through the exchange of Trust Property, John and Heidi Niblack Fund and Friends of Chinese Art, 2016.241

The work of art featured in this post, Taoist Immortals Playing Weiqi in Autumn Mountains, is a hanging scroll masterfully executed in black ink on paper by Zhao Changguo in the 1500s. His inscription states that he was “copying” a work by Dai Jin, who lived from about 1388 to 1462 and is considered the patriarch of the Zhe School of professional painting. Zhao Changguo’s painting depicts the three popular Chinese gods incorporated into the Taoist pantheon, the Star Lords of: happiness (Fuxing), high salary (Luxing), and long life (Shouxing). Set deep in the mountains during autumn, among pines and deciduous trees, two of the Star Lords are engaged in the ancient board game of Weiqi (pronounced “way-chee”) while the third observes. The objective of this deeply contemplative game is to surround and thereby capture opponent’s game pieces. Widely considered to be the oldest continuously played board game in the world, serious engagement in Weiqi has been described as “putting your hand on the third rail of the universe.” Zhao’s lively brushwork captures the tension of the game in progress and evokes the sound of rushing water and waterfalls cascading from precipitous cliffs.

There are several reasons why Zhao Changguo painted “Taoist Immortals of Abundance in Autumn Mountains” 秋山仙奕圖 beyond being inspired by Dai Jin’s painting. Professional painters like Dai Jin made their living by painting and usually added colored pigment to their ink paintings, while scholars generally created monochrome ink paintings for pleasure or for self-cultivation. Scholars learned to paint by studying famous masters of the past because painting was one of the “four accomplishments” in which scholars were expected to excel. The other three activities were writing calligraphy, playing the game of Weiqi, and performing on the qin, a type of Chinese zither. Although very little is known about Zhao Changguo, the way he painted suggests that he was a Confucian scholar.

Installation view of “Divine Beings: China at the Center of Cross-Currents in Asian Art”

Scholars made actual or meditative pilgrimages to famous mountains in their quest to achieve immortality. Taoists believed that immortals dwelled in the mountains and that they could receive the gift of immortality through an encounter with immortals. The earliest known painting of the Three Star Lords playing Weiqi dates to about 1350. In 1443, the earliest literary work about the Three Star Lords was published, a play by Zhu Youdun, who was a grandson of the founder of the Ming dynasty. In this play titled The Festival of the Immortal Officials Fu, Lu and Shou, the immortals descend to earth to celebrate the Lunar New Year. Today, and perhaps in the 1500s when Zhao Changguo created this painting, images of the Three Stars Lords are displayed during Chinese New Year celebrations because, according to Zhu Youdun, it is their duty to confer happiness, high salary, and long life.

I invite you to explore further, using the links below. May the Taoist Star Lords bless you with happiness, health and wealth.