Xi Wang Mu with bird

This is the earliest representation of the Queen Mother of the West, Xi Wang Mu, referred by the Zhuangzi (a philosophical text), as an exemplary being who had achieved the dao. She was living in the Shaoguang Mountain; no one had knowledge of her beginning or her end. She wears a flower and a sheng crown on her hair, which is often shaped on a transverse rod with discs at its ends, as clearly shown here. She also wears a stylized long-sleeved garment and a flapping sash. This motif is one of the principal ways of identifying the deity. Birds such as peacocks and cranes are always associated with the image of Xi Wang Mu. She is flanked by a tall, upright, compacted-body bird that bears resemblance to a crane. It has very straight legs and a long curved beak, is represented standing next to the deity, and is braced against her long, right sleeve. The crane confers immortality and may indeed have an escorting function. The figure of Xi Wang Mu is carried out in low relief with clear instance under the swept-over waist sash. She also carries on her right hand a long fly flap or chowry, an ancient Taoist emblem of immortality (sometimes an emblem of royalty or rank, if seen with a different figure), usually made of yak-tails or coir. The stylized lotus motif for the wooden base can confuse viewers that this is a representation of Guanyin. The above description may help reaffirm that this is indeed a Xi Wang Mu figure