This is LIULIGONGFANG’s first sculpture of General Guan Yu riding a horse. In creating the image of this historical figuring, the difficulty lay not only in capturing his appearance, but in capturing his majestic and righteous form and spirit.

The design of this sculpture is 10 years in the making. Through countless processing experiments, firings and color expressions, we finally created a General Guan that LIULIGONGFANG Creative Director Loretta H. Yang approved of.

Design Concept

THE VISUAL
Awe-inspiring with a deep red face, a body cloaked in armor, feet encased in black-boots, left hand stroking a long beard, right hand clutching the Green Dragon Crescent Blade and riding a galloping horse straight up to the heavens.

THE COLOR
Purple is mixture of soothing, calm blue with boisterous, energetic red. Purple is associated with royalty. It symbolizes power, nobility, luxury, and ambition. It conveys wealth and extravagance. Purple is associated with wisdom, dignity, independence, creativity, mystery, and magic.

THE SYMBOL
In Chinese culture, Guan Yu represents honor, righteousness, loyalty and strength. Guan Yu is held to have been a ferocious protector of the innocent and a defender of the righteous.

ABOUT GENERAL GUAN

• General Guan is a household name in Chinese culture and his influence runs deep. His story has been eulogized across the generations and his status has risen from man to king to deity to saint.
• Revered across the Chinese world, General Guan’s recent elevated status is due to his embodiment of “loyalty, righteousness, benevolence and courage”. He has become a spiritual icon. Devoted, moral, dispersing righteousness in the world, General Guan is an unmovable force, a symbol of fierce emotion and honor.
• Righteous One depicts General Guan in earth-shattering might. Wielding a sword upon a noble steed, he is powerful and heroic. This is the first time LIULIGONGFANG has rendered General Guan upon a horse and is the LIULIGONGFANG’s largest General Guan to date. The design incorporates a metal sword and other materials in the construction.
• General Guan’s visage is sculpted according to literary reference while his Armour and horse Red Hare are sculpted in realist detail. These elements combined with one hand on his beard, the other on his knife and his union with his horse, make for a vivid and representational sculpture.
• General Guan’s billowing cape and Red Hare’s airborne tail give the sculpture movement. Flowers like clouds adorn the horse, symbolic of ascent and fortune.
• The cubic zirconia inlaid gold-plated sword wielded by General Guan is constructed according to material demands and illuminates the sculpture as a whole.

Read More About General GuanGong: GuanGong in Wikipedia, GuanGong Culture