Page 51 - 2021 March 15th Fine Chinese Paintings and Works of Art, Bonhams NYC New York

PROPERTY OF AN ENGLISH LADY PROPERTY OF AN ENGLISH LADY
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A SOAPSTONE FIGURE OF A SHOULAO ON A CREAM SOAPSTONE ‘LION WITH CUBS’ GROUP
ROCKWORK PEDESTAL 18th Century
Probably late 18th Century-early 19th Century The large central figure of a seated maned-lion with its head turned
Standing on an attached rockwork pedestal, the bearded figure to look over its back whilst five playful cubs clamber in a swirling
wearing flowing robes tied with a sash above belly level, that motion over, around and under the beast.
falls towards his feet, and incised with numerous peach groups 5in (12.6cm) high, wood stand
supporting shou characters edged in a wave design, the robes at
his rotund belly carved with a panel of a crane above waves, he $3,000 - 4,000
holds a ruyi scepter with an unusually large coiled fungus head
across his left arm, traces of red and black pigments to his lips,
eyes and hair at the back of his head. 十八世紀 壽山石雕太獅少獅擺件
11in (27.9cm) high, overall
Provenance
Spink & Son Ltd., London, 1985
$4,000 - 6,000
Literature
清 壽山石雕壽老像 Spink & Son, Ltd, The Minor Arts of China II, London, 1985, no. 220

Provenance 來源
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York Spink & Son Ltd., 倫敦, 1985年

來源 出版
Ralph M. Chait Galleries, 紐約 Spink & Son, Ltd, The Minor Arts of China II, 倫敦, 1985年, 圖錄編號220

For another similar-sized large standing figure of Shoulao posed For a smaller and later Qing example of a Buddhist lion group with
holding a ruyi scepter and dated 17th/18th Century, see Gerard cubs clambering all around the beast, see Sotheby’s, New York, 24
Hawthorn Ltd., Oriental Works of Art, London, June 2001, no. 65, June 2020, lot 1044, and and even smaller carving sold at Christie’s,
where it is noted that another soapstone figure of Shoulao from the London, 15 May 2008, lot 320.
Sloane Collection (which formed the inception collection of the British
Museum in 1753) is illustrated in Chinese Ivories from the Shang to the
Qing, British Museum, London, 1984, no. 100.

Other standing figures of Shoulao, also known as Shouxing, one of
the three stellar gods of Chinese mythology, Fulushou, were offered at
Bonhams, London 14 May 2019, lot 791 and Christie’s, London, 15
June 1999, lot 134.

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