The Queen Mother of the West (Xiwangmu) is a goddess of long-standing prominence in Chinese mythology and religious culture. From the mid-Western Han period, belief in Xiwangmu became widespread, and she became one of the principal deities in Han tomb iconography. Archaeological findings show that in depictions of her celestial realm, Xiwangmu is often placed at the center, accompanied by various animals such as rabbits, toads, nine-tailed foxes, and notably, the three-legged crow (sanzu wu)―the only avian sacred creature in such images. These mythic animals reflect Han perceptions of Xiwangmu’s divine functions and the imagined structure of her paradise. This paper analyzes archaeological materials and transmitted texts to examine the iconographic role of the three-legged crow, its associations with the blue bird (qingniao) and the solar
crow (jinwu), and its symbolic evolution. By tracing its origins in texts such as the Shanhaijing, the study explores the visual and cultural significance of the three-legged crow within Han representations of Xiwangmu’s celestial realm.
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