Table screen depicting the Daoist deity Doumu and her entourage

The Daoist goddess Doumu (the Dipper Mother) rides her chariot at the center of this scholar’s tabletop screen, which carries multiple symbols of immortality. Doumu has been combined with the Buddhist goddess of the dawn, Marichi, who can be recognized by her characteristic boar’s head. Around Doumu are members of the celestial hierarchy, to whom the Big Dipper is home. In her hands, Doumu holds the sun and moon, along with a bow and arrow, a bell, and vase. The circle around Doumu’s entourage represents the sun as well. Her luminous imagery, with its celestial referents, is thought to extend life. Even the clouds are executed in the shape of the wishgranting fungus of immortality (lingzhi).