Page 121 - September 21 2021 MAnfred Arnold Collection snuff bottles Bonhams NYC

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AN UNUSUAL DENDRITIC MACARONI SHADOW AGATE SNUFF The subject of the Daoist God Liu Hai was an exceedingly popular one.
BOTTLE He was revered as the epitome of wealth and business success. He
Official School, 1800-1880 started life, according to Therese Tse Bartholomew, Hidden Meanings
Of compressed oviform shape, a dark black-brown mossy patch to in Chinese Art, Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, 2006, p. 150,
one side cleverly edited to depict Lui Hai with his string-of-cash, under no. 6.24 and C.A.S. Williams, Outlines of Chinese Symbolism and Art
a tree, teasing the magical three-legged toad on a rock before him; Motives, Rutland, Vermont and Tokyo, 1978, p. 403, as an historical
stopper. figure named Liu Yuanying, also known as Haichanzi, who was a
2 1/4in (5.8cm) high prime minister in the Han dynasty government and a proficient student
of Daoist magic and medicine. It was rumoured that he possesed a
$2,500 - 3,500 specimen of the legendary three-legged toad of Chinese Mythology. It
was said that Liu Yuaning (later Liu Hai) with the help of his toad could
1800-1880 頒賜類 瑪瑙巧刻「劉海戯蟾」鼻煙壺 travel unimpeded anywhere he choose. Occasionally the creature
would escape down the nearest well but Liu Hai could always tempt
Provenance: him back by dangling his string of coins like a fishing line and retrieve
China Import/Export Corp., Hong Kong, 1980 him. The toad, like Liu Hai, also became a symbol of wealth.
Y. F. Yang & Co., Hong Kong, 25 February 2007
For a chalcedony agate bottle depicting the same subject, see Hugh
Exhibited: Moss, Victor Graham and Ka Bo Tsang, A Treasury of Chinese Snuff
International Chinese Snuff Bottle Society Convention, New York, 5-9 Bottles, The Mary and George Bloch Collection, Vol. 2, Part 2, Quartz,
November 2013, no. 123. pp. 294-295, no. 289.

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