A Fine Chinese Bamboo Carving

A fine bamboo group of the Hehe Erxian, each smiling broadly, one reclining against a lobed round box and cover, holding a ruyi in the crook of the right arm and holding out a peach in the left hand; his companion standing with a lotus flower held over his head. Each of the twins with a smooth crown to the head above long hair curling down onto their shoulders, each dressed in long rebooted at the waist, one bare-footed, the other wearing shoes. Another bamboo carving of the Hehe Erxian, differing slightly in the positioning of the figures, but evidently of the same hand with characteristic bulbous folds to the sleeves, is illustrated in Auspicious Ju-I Scepters of China, No. 107.

Provenance: Form the Drs. A.M. Singers Collection, The Netherlands, acquired from Gerard Hawthorn in 2003. (This catalogue is included with this lot).

Published in Gerard Hawthorn Oriental Art Ltd, London: Chinese and Japanese Sculpture, November 2003, Item 17.

A similar bamboo carving from the collection of Gerard Hawthorn were sold at: Christie's Hong Kong, December 3, 2008, Lot 2343 & Christie's Hong Kong, November 28, 2012, Lot 2387.