Den daoistiske odödlige Liu Hai skulpterad i en stående position med den trebente paddan sittandes på ena axeln hållandes ett rep med mynt. Höjd 23 cm.
Purchased by a collector from Roseburys auction house, nov 2023, lot no 250.
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'.
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.