{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O157398"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O157398/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG3446/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006AG3446/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006AG3446","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017KE6954","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O157398/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O157398","accessionNumber":"M.2-1922","objectType":"Figure of Laozi","titles":[{"title":"Laozi Riding a Buffalo","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"Laozi, literally 'old master', was a scholar and royal archivist who is said to have lived during the 6th century BC. He is considered the author of the Classic of the Way and its Power (<i>Dao De jing</i> ), a philosophical treatise explaining the concept of Dao and how to live in harmony with the natural world. \r\n\r\nLaozi riding an ox is one of the most popular depictions of the sage. The tradition says that when leaving China to the western regions, he gave a compendium of his teachings to a guard stationed at the Hangu Pass, and then went west on an ox. Later Daoist believers honour him as the founder of Daoism.","physicalDescription":"Bronze figure of Laozi riding an ox. He is portrayed as an old man, with bold head, a long beard, and wearing a long draped gown; two ribbons departing from the back of his head fall on the shoulders and his shoes' soles are decorated with the <i>ruyi</i> symbol. He holds a scroll in his left hand.","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"bronze","id":"AAT10957"}],"techniques":[],"materialsAndTechniques":"Bronze","categories":[{"text":"Metalwork","id":"THES48920"},{"text":"Daoism","id":"THES49032"}],"styles":[{"text":"Qing","id":"AAT18478"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"EAS","id":"THES48596"},"images":["2006AG3446","2017KE6954"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"47E","id":"THES49794"},"free":"","case":"CA1","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Figure of Laozi","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"China","id":"x29398"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"18th century","earliest":"1700-01-01","latest":"1800-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"Given by Ms Herman M. Schiff in memory of her son, Captain Mortimer E. H. Schiff","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"37.25","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"37.5","unit":"in","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"Given by Ms Herman M. Schiff in memory of her son, Captain Mortimer E.H. Schiff, 12th Suffolk Regt., who fell in the Great War, 1917; from the collection of her brother, the late M. Edouard Horwitz of Brussels","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Bronze figure of Laozi riding a buffalo, China, Qing dynasty, 18th century","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"The figure was originally identified as an incense burner, Japan c.1800. The new attribution was made when the object went on display in the Tsui gallery in June 1991.","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[{"text":"Laozi","id":"N7497"}],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[{"text":"老子騎牛","id":"CIT281323"},{"text":"老子","id":"CIT281319"},{"text":"牛","id":"CIT279783"},{"text":"書卷","id":"CIT281127"},{"text":"鬚 (人體面部)","id":"CIT288971"},{"text":"持卷","id":"CIT281126"},{"text":"袍","id":"CIT289580"},{"text":"敞懷","id":"CIT290704"},{"text":"鞋","id":"CIT0288715"},{"text":"盤坐","id":"CIT0292602"}],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Laozi, literally 'old man', is said to have lived in 6th century BC, when China was in perpetual civil war. At the Hangu Pass he gave the border guard a compendium of his teachings, then went west on an ox. The volume is known as the Dao De Jing (The Way and its Virtue), which advocates leaving everything to its natural course. Later Daoist faithfuls honour him as the founder of Daoism.","date":{"text":"June 1991","earliest":"1991-06-01","latest":"1991-06-30"}}],"partNumbers":["M.2-1922"],"accessionNumberNum":"2","accessionNumberPrefix":"M","accessionYear":1922,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-11-14","recordCreationDate":"2008-06-25","availableToBook":false}}