The Li Celestial Master (Lei T'in Sai, sometimes abbreviated Lei T'in), a Taoist divinity, the keeper of the left gate

ceremonial scroll painting

mineral pigment on mulberry paper

43 x 18 1/4 inches

Yao people

Southeast Asia (northern Vietnam, Laos, northern Thailand, southern Myanmar, and southeast China)

19th century

provenance:  collected near Chiang Mai, Thailand, by Jack Daulton; from the same set as Yao painting 1 on this website

See Jacques Lemoine, Yao Ceremonial Paintings (Bangkok: White Lotus, 1982), pgs. 69-75.  

Discussion:

The Li Celestial Master is depicted riding a fantastic beast known in Chinese mythology as a k'uei niu (kuiniu), some kind of wild buffalo or yak.  In the lower right, the god's foot rests upon a tortoise.  In the upper left, a sword is planted in the ground behind the god's right shoulder; and a snake is coiled around the sword.  The Celestial Master holds in his hands a ceremonial tablet. Lemoine at pgs. 69 and 72.