Daoist priest's robe (jiangyi), unknown maker from China

Exhibition Label: “Flowers, Dragons and Pine Trees: Asian Textiles in the Spencer Museum of Art,” Nov-2005, Mary Dusenbury This jiangyi-a Daoist priest’s Robe of Descent-was worn as the outermost layer of the costume of the highest-ranking priest during certain Daoist ceremonies. The garment is voluminous and would have enveloped the priest in the signs and symbols of the Daoist cosmology, and dramatically accentuated his movement in the active choreography of Daoist ritual. Exhibition Label: "The Art of Stories Told," Jun-2004, Veronica de Jong This Daoist priest’s robe is decorated with myriad Daoist symbols and deities. Within the large roundels are five of the eight immortals and in the center is a Buddhist pagoda, flanked by dragons chasing a pearl. Above the pagoda are depictions of the sun and the moon. The sun is on the right and is distinguished by a bird. The moon on the left has a hare (or rabbit) depicted in it. According to Chinese legend, a white hare, whose silhouette is supposedly visible in the moon, lives on there pounding out the elixir of immortality. Chinese folklore and Daoist tales are often about quests for immortality. One tale speaks of a woman who was banished to earth with her husband from the land of immortals. Driven by her desire to return to an immortal’s life she had her husband travel far to obtain an elixir of immortality that was intended for her and her husband, and shortly after he returned she stole it and consumed all of it. As she began to float away from earth she became filled with feelings of regret and loneliness. She eventually arrived at the moon where she found the white hare that busily produced an elixir.