The Winged God for the People of Chu: Painted Feathered Man

The Warring States (475-221 B.C.)

Maximum height: 65.7 cm

Maximum height of the base: 17.6 cm Length: 50.3 cm Width: 32.8 cm

Excavated in 2000 from the No. 2 Tomb of Tian Xing Guan in Jiangling county, Hubei Province

Currently Housed in Jingzhou Museum

The feathered man is the most creative wood carving which thrived during witchcraft’s heyday during the Chu area. It has a body like a human being but a tail and claws like a bird, and feather scales visible on the legs. The feathered man stands on the head of a phoenix with a toad as its base, presenting a unique and grotesque image.

The feathered man’s origin is closely related to the popular religious beliefs and mythology of the Chu area. In Qu Yuan’s poem “Yuan You” from Chuci, he expresses his wish to visit the celestial dwelling place of the feathered man and stay there with the immortal. It is also recorded in Shanhaijing that there were immortal beings with a human face and a bird’s head. Later in the Han Dynasty, the feathered man was often associated with immortals and regarded as a symbol of immortality. While the toad stands for the spirit of the moon and the phoenix is a sacred bird flying between heaven and the hell, the feathered man is seen as a mysterious immortal. By combining the three images upon the statue, people express their wish to explore the universe and pursue immortality.