A carved bamboo sculpture of Liu Hai and his golden toad, Qing dynasty, 18th/19th century.
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The Daoist Immortal carved standing, dressed in loose flowing robes cascading in voluminous folds and revealing his round belly, his right hand supporting the three-legged toad and his left hand slightly raised at his chest holding a rope of coins, his waist adorned with a belt suspending a double-gourd and overlapping leaves the bamboo well-patinated to a brown colour. Height 23 cm.
Provenance
Purchased by a collector from Roseburys auction house, nov 2023, lot no 250.
Literature
Bamboo carvings of the Immortal Liu Hai and his three-legged toad were popular throughout the Ming and Qing dynasties, and the present lot appears to have been carved after earlier Ming dynasty prototypes. See a bamboo carving of Liu Hai and Toad, late Ming dynasty, illustrated by S.Kwan, Ming and Qing Bamboo, Hong Kong, 2000, pp.162-163. Later bamboo carvings of Liu Hai, Kangxi to Yongzheng periods are also illustrated in Ibid., p.293, where the author notes that 'smaller toads were common on bamboo carvings with the same subject matter during the late Kangxi and Yongzheng periods'.
More information
The imagery of these carved figures features a multitude of auspicious symbols and rebuses. The Daoist immortal Liu Hai is associated with wealth and prosperity.