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A very pale green and russet jade carving of Liu Hai and gourd Qianlong
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A very pale green and russet jade carving of Liu Hai and gourd
Finely carved with Liu Hai riding a large double gourd borne on a trailing leafy stem above cresting waves, the Immortal's face turned to one side with a joyful expression, holding a ball in his right hand as if about to throw it at the three-legged toad behind him, the stone of very pale green tone with russet inclusions. 8.2cm (3 3/8in) long.
Footnotes
清乾隆 青白玉帶皮劉海抱葫蘆擺件
Provenance: Christie's London, 24 May 1966, lot 143
Bonhams London, 10 November 2016, lot 81
A distinguished Hong Kong private collection
來源:倫敦佳士得,1966年5月24日,拍品編號143
倫敦邦瀚斯,2016年11月10日,拍品編號81
香港顯貴私人收藏
Liu Hai and his three-legged toad are symbolic of wealth and prosperity. The Chinese word for 'toad' is chan (蟾); and in some dialects, the character chan is a homophone to the character for 'money' or qian (錢). Thus, in a dialect, one could easily hear 'Liu Hai playing with the toad' as 'Liu Hai playing with gold coins'. The shape of a double-gourd was particularly favoured for its auspicious association with fertility and longevity. Since the bottle gourd contains numerous seeds, it could be used to symbolise a lineage with many descendants; hence the present carving bears auspicious wishes for wealth, prosperity, continuity of the family and longevity.
























