A very pale green and russet jade carving of Liu Hai and gourd


QianlongFinely carved with Liu Hai riding a large double gourd borne on a trailing leafy stem above cresting waves, the Immortal's face turned to one side with a joyful expression, holding a ball in his right hand as if about to throw it at the three-legged toad behind him, the stone of very pale green tone with russet inclusions. 8.2cm (3 3/8in) long.
|清乾隆 青白玉帶皮劉海抱葫蘆擺件Provenance: Christie's London, 24 May 1966, lot 143Bonhams London, 10 November 2016, lot 81A distinguished Hong Kong private collection來源：倫敦佳士得，1966年5月24日，拍品編號143倫敦邦瀚斯，2016年11月10日，拍品編號81香港顯貴私人收藏Liu Hai and his three-legged toad are symbolic of wealth and prosperity. The Chinese word for 'toad' is chan (蟾); and in some dialects, the character chan is a homophone to the character for 'money' or qian (錢). Thus, in a dialect, one could easily hear 'Liu Hai playing with the toad' as 'Liu Hai playing with gold coins'. The shape of a double-gourd was particularly favoured for its auspicious association with fertility and longevity. Since the bottle gourd contains numerous seeds, it could be used to symbolise a lineage with many descendants; hence the present carving bears auspicious wishes for wealth, prosperity, continuity of the family and longevity.