An embroidered silk altar frontal


dated by inscription to 1898Made for veneration of the anti-epidemic deity Chen Zhongzhen or Suijing Bo, the red ground elaborately embroidered in gilt threads to depict phoenix, qilin and other auspicious iconography embellished by small pieces of mirror, the two flaps on either side with the date and the name of the donors.39 x 49 1/2in (99.1 x 125.8cm)
|Chen Zhongzhen was a Southern Song Guangzhou military officer elevated to deity status by the populace after his death. In the Qing dynasty he was enthroned as the Suijing Bo (loosely 'Sir Pacifier'). See Zhou Shujia in Xianggang Zhushen [the Gods of Hong Kong] (Hong Kong: Chunghwa, 2009) 182. Zhou suggests that in addition to warding off epidemics, in Hong Kong, Chen was venerated as a wealth deity largely in underworld establishments such as gambling parlors and houses of ill-repute.