Standing with his head turned to the left side and his trunk curved upward, richly arrayed in trappings inlaid with red-colored glass beads, draped with a long blanket decorated with peony scrolls, with a ruyi-head border encircling the circular collar rising from the back into which fits the gu-shaped vase, cast in high relief with peonies and scrolls and with two elephant-headed ring handles.
China, late Ming period, 17th century.
30,5 cm. high
With minimal carving, except for the interior and base, this washer is a natural gnarled form, beautifully patinated due to age and handling. China, late Ming Dynasty, 17th century. Largest diameter:10,5 cm. Height: 5 cm.
Resting with three feet on a fenced bulbous stand with six legs, the open-worked body is cast with a standing Immortal on each panel between panels with flowers, the handles in the shape of squirrels.
China, Song to early Ming Dynasty, 12th-14th century.
Height: 25,5 cm.
For a similar bronze piece see: Jessica Harrison-Hall: Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, 2001, page 418.
In the shape of Shoulao sitting with both hands on his knees, of which the left one is raised, his large head with smiling face and long beard above his bare chest, his loose garment held together with a bow under his belly.
China, Qing Dynasty, 18th century.
Height: 6,1 cm.
Sitting on their hind legs with their left forelegs on a brocade ball, their tails swept upwards, their heads looking up with roaring open mouths, a ribbon in their mouths leading to apertures that once held candle-sticks, but which are now missing.
China, Ming Dynasty, 16th-17th century.
Height: 21 cm.
Standing on an open-worked rock base and trampling with his right foot on a three-legged toad, the laughing Immortal is holding a coin in his right hand and carrying a double-gourd flask on his left shoulder.
China, Qing Dynasty, 18th century.
Height: 20,3 cm.
Standing on three cabriole legs the middle part is carved in the skin with a scene of people walking through the cloisters of a temple between meandering bands.
China, late Ming Dynasty, 17th century.
Height: 9,4 cm.
The Immortal sitting on his bag with a smiling face and holding a bat in his right hand, four boys playing around him, one standing on his right arm and pricking him in the ear, another one keeping a box with bats closed. China, Qing Dynasty, 18th century. Height: 14,3 cm.
The rectangular box with rounded sides and a double mouth-rim has a sliding lid with a central roundel carved with five bats around a Shou character, the four corners engraved with pomegranates and veins.
China, Qing Dynasty, 18th century.
Measurements: 25 cm x 15 cm.
Carved as a square basin with crescent moon-shaped indentations on which is curled a five-clawed dragon forming the rim. China, late Ming period, 17th century. Measurements: 11 cm x 10,5 cm.
