QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

The crab, xie, forms the rebus wishing for success in attaining the high position of zhuangyuan in the state civil service examinations. Although the subject is well known in jade carvings, bamboo carvings of crabs appear to be more unusual. Compare with an example from the collection of Madam Shum Ching-chi, illustrated by L. Tam and Ip Yee in Chinese Bamboo Carving, Part II, Hong Kong, 1982, p, 296, no. 107; another is illustrated by S. Kwan, Ming and Qing Bamboo, Hong Kong, 2000, p. 309, no. 81; and a third exhibited in the 1983 China House Gallery exhibition, New York, Bamboo Carving of China, and illustrated in the Catalogue, p. 93, no 31.