Live Auction 2811The Imperial Sale Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art
A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP
Lot 1972THE PROPERTY OF A CHINESE GENTLEMAN

A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP

Closed31 May 2010

Price Realised

HKD 680,000

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A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Modelled in the form of the laughing twins turned inwards to face one another, atop a lotus flower and leaf base one twin stands wearing loose robes open at the chest to reveal a ruyi-form necklace, his hair in two top-knots, in his left hand he holds a large plantain leaf which rests atop his shoulders, the other twin seated beside him with robes open at the chest to reveal a lotus-form necklace, with long hair trailing down his back and a bald patch on the top of his head, he opens a basket to reveal a bat
12 1/2 in. (31.7 cm.) high, stand, box

Specialist note

The hehe erxian, or the Two Immortals of Harmony and Unity, were believed to preside over happy marriages, and are adaptations of two famous poet-monks of the Tang dynasty, Hanshan and Shide. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the twins were usually depicted holding a box he and a lotus stem, he forming the rebus for harmony, he and unity, he.

Compare a very similar dehua group with a Xu Yunlin sealmark in the Hong Kong Museum of Art, included in the exhibition The Wonders of the Potter's Palette, Hong Kong Museum of Art and illustrated in the Catalogue, no. 141.