Page 77 - Yamanaka co Auction catalog

123-REALGAR FIGURE OF LI TAl PER (l11~ing)
The most famous of Chinese poets is figured in reclining
attitude, his shoulder resting against a wine jar, happily
asleep; skilfully carved in realgar, with a soft and lustrous
polish, the hue a beautifully rich, dark coral, with a delicate
veil of pale yellow. Li Tai Peh, who began life at the end
of the seventh century and survived well past the meridian
of the eighth, manifested his genius so early that he was
taken for an immortal in disguise and said to be an incar-
nation of the planet Venus. He liked his wine so often and
well that the Emperor Hiian Tsung, of the T'ang, who was
deeply impressed with his genius, once had him served by
his own concubine and bade his chief counsellor, Kao Lo
Tsze, remove the inebriated bard's boots. Teakwood
stand.
Length, 3 inches.

124-AMBER STATUETTE OF KUAN-YIN (Ch'ien-luny)
An elaborate eighteenth century carving in amber which
with the light on it is of rich, dark hue, and viewed against
the light shows a beautiful tortoise-shell translucency. The
goddess holds upon her knee the child Buddha, who sits
with folded hands. A dove descending upon her shoulder
holds in its beak a bracelet of beads. The figure-group
rests upon an adroitly and imaginatively carved base, the
goddess standing upon the head of a huge carp curling out
of waves from which a dragon also emerges, while on the
reverse are seen a crab, a water snake and a smaller carp,
and the wave scroll or water motive is carried up the back
of the figure all the way to the head. Soft, lustrous polish.
Has ingeniously carved stand.
Height, 9 inches.