Dish depicting scenes from Journey to the West, anonymous, c. 1680 - c. 1700
paint, h 5.8cm × d 35cm More details
This dish depicts women in various guises as they appear in the 16th-century Chinese novel Journey to the West. The woman with two sabres next to a large spider’s web is intriguing. She represents seven sisters, who are actually demons in the form of spiders. They catch the monk Tang Sanzang in their web, but are defeated by his disciples.
