Pictures

Bamboo group finely carved with a beautiful and delicate honey patina.

Dongfang is seated on a deer and holds three peaches on his left hand. It is unusual to find this iconography on bamboo works of art carving. It is a classic symbol of longevity which was frequently used in the Chinese iconography but more often on porcelain, painting or sculptures.
Dongfang Shuo, alias Manqian was a government official at the time of the emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty. He was a native of Yanci and excelled at writing long essays with comical, yet satirical elements. He was said to have stolen three of the peaches of longevity from the garden of Xi Wang Mu, consumption of which granted him immortality.

China, Kangxi period (1662-1722).

Height : 17 cm / 6.7 in.

Length : 13 cm / 5.1 in.

Provenance:

Private Asian Collection.

Private European Collection.

Similar Example :

Ming and Qing Bamboo by Simone Kwan, n°62 page 270, n°66 page 279.

Auspicious Emblems, Chinese Cultural Treasures, 45th Anniversary Exhibition of the Min Chiu Society,
fig°12 page73 From the Simon Kwan collection.

Scultures sur bamboo des dynasties Ming et Ching, Musée de la fondation Chang, Paris 1988.
"deux cerfs"