Abstract

This chapter presents a chronological survey of representations of the Daoist Heavenly Court in their social-historical context as these survive today in material form, such as sculptured statues, scroll paintings, wall paintings, or in references thereof in textual sources. It gives an art historical account of the early development and origins of the representation of the Daoist Heavenly Court. The chapter describes that a Daoist Heavenly Court painting is a later development of a fixed theme in Chinese art history. The history and development of representations of the Daoist Heavenly Court can be divided into four general phases: Early (400700), Transitional (7001000), Middle (10001400) and Late (1400present). The chapter demonstrates that the chao -audience theme developed from the Han homage scene through Buddhist donor scenes and tomb processions of the mediaeval period into Heavenly Court paintings.Keywords: Buddhist donor scenes; chao -audience theme; Chinese art history; Daoist Heavenly Court; economical development; Han homage scene; Heavenly Court paintings; tomb processions

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