This is the mask of a popular deity in Chinese folk religion with Taoist connections, commonly addressed as "Grandpa." As "earth god" Tu Di Gong is worshipped in temples and in household shrines and prayed to for wealth and well-being and is specifically worshipped before burials as bodies are returned to the earth. A sort of heavenly bureaucrat, he could aid at times of drought or famiine and was also able to intercede with ghosts, should they interfere with the living. Here, as in other dramatic and pictorial traditions in China, he is portrayed as an elderly man with a long white beard and may carry staff in one hand and an ingot of gold in the other.