M5763
Description
Chinese porcelain blue and white baluster vase, guanyin zun, painted with the Daoist Immortals Liu Hai, Li Tieguai and the Hehe twins, The Immortals of Harmony, the reverse with four characters bai fu cheng xiang, “hundreds of blessings, longevity and happiness”, alongside thirty different fu, “happiness” characters.
Kangxi, 1662-1722.
16 7/8 inches, 43 cm high.
Condition
Available on request.
Provenance & Additional Information
- Sold by Christie’s South Kensington in their auction of Oriental Ceramics and Works of Art, 8th May 1997, lot 262.
- From the collection of Lip Keong Tai.
- Included by Stuart Marchant in Marchant – One Hundred Years, Volume II: 2001-2025, London, 2025, p. 538, image no. 2071, p. 531.
- A famille verte rouleau vase of this subject from the collection of J. M. Hu was sold by Sotheby’s New York in their auction of Important Chinese Ceramics from the J. M. Hu Family Collection, 4th July 1985, lot 54, and again by Sotheby’s New York in their auction of Important Chinese Art, 11th September 2019, lot 905. The pair to this rouleau was sold by Christie’s London in their auction of Fine Chinese Ceramics, Jades and Works of Art, 8th & 9th December 1986, lot 431, and again by Christie’s New York in their auction of A Park Avenue Collection, 17th April 2024, lot 43; a blue and white pear-shaped vase of this subject, Yongzheng mark and period, was sold by Sotheby’s Hong Kong in their auction of* Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art*, 2nd May 2000, lot 672.
- Liu Hai is a popular Chinese Immortal associated with wealth and is well-known for having a “pet” three-legged toad that lives in a river and is tempted out by a string of coins. Once out of the water, Liu Hai would clamber on its back and be transported anywhere in the world. He was originally a Tang dynasty minister of state. Li Tieguai is a legendary figure in Chinese mythology and one of The Eight Immortals of Daoism. He is revered as a patron of the sick and pharmacists and is usually depicted with his iron crutch and magical gourd-shaped bottle. According to legend, he was born in the Yuan dynasty, however he is also believed to have been Laozi’s apprentice and therefore would have lived in the 6th century BC. The Hehe Twins, also known as the Hehe Erxian, are Daoist Immortals of harmony and union. They are often depicted as boys holding boxes and lotus flowers, symbols of happy marriage.
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