Lot Essay
On the top, Kakkyo (Chinese: Guoju) discovers a pot of gold while digging a grave for his infant son. On the door, Moso (Mengzong) finds a shoot of bamboo for his mother. On the sides, Yoko (Yangxiang) fends off a tiger (which had threatened his father) and Taishun (Taishun) is rewarded with an elephant after many tribulations. On the end panel is a comical figure performing a fan dance, Roraishi (Laolaizi), who at the age of seventy dressed as a child so that his parents would not realise they had grown old.1
1 V-F. Weber, Koji Hoten, Dictionnaire à l'Usage des Amateurs et Collectionneurs d'Objets d'Art Japonais et Chinois (Paris, 1923), vol. 2, 170-1 and 215-6.