Door Deities (Sheng-Shu and Yu-Lu) 

Tin Art

Tin, Bronze, Copper, Jade Stone Copper, Tin and Gold Foil

Chen Wan-Neng

There has beena custom referring to offering sacrifices to doors since ancient China.  Door Deities reflect psychological claim forprotecting living space; there are a variety of door gods, the result turned tobe more and more types of door gods for demand of all kinds of auspiciousresponse but still Sheng-Shu and Yu-Lu referred to in Western Han Dynastyliterature are the most senior and famous used in the temples enshriningimperial-class deities (the Jade Emperor, the Great Tien, etc.).

Usually, astatue's eyes are looking down, mostly looking at the incense burner in frontof him/her (to keep an eye on the burner). Because the door god is a patron saint, he should look at things at eyelevel, watch and hear with sharp eyes and keen ears; especially the stanceshould be carved and molded according to the powerful generals of the legendary“appearance of strength with sturdy frame”.

“Annals ofEtiquette in History of Han Dynasty” describes it as “There was a mountainnamed Dusu in the East Sea, on the mountain there were two god-men, one wasSheng Tu the other was Yu Lei, mainly searched for the ghosts that harmedpeople and tied them with reed ropes to feed tigers”.  And, “Jing Chu at the Age of Mind” says“Drawing two gods and pasting them on two sides of a house in lunar January thefirst, Sheng-Shu on the left side and Yu-Lu on the right side to avoid evilspirits, traditionally referred to as Door Deities”. Afterwards, starting fromthe Zhou Dynasty, people erected the peach wood carving “Sheng-Shu and Yu-Lu”at the door on lunar December 30 for the sake of peace. Some people directlywrote “Sheng-Shu” and “Yu-Lu” on the peach wood plate, which is how the “peachwood charms” came about. It has been popular in Northern and SouthernDynasties.

Such work,combining tin with bronze, copper and other metals, took him more than a year tocomplete. Inside is supported by stainless steel stands, using complicatedhollow sculptural techniques to create something from nothing showing the doorgod's heroic posture. It can be described as a creation approach other thantraditional tin art.