QING DYNASTY (1644-1911)

Such ‘natural’, partially worked, sculptures of animals were appreciated by scholars and artists as curios for their natural resemblance to other forms in nature. Compare with a root wood figure of goose, dated probably Qing dynasty, illustrated in Arts from the Scholar’s Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, p. 57, no. 17, and three other examples dated to 17th and 18th century, illustrated in Wood from the Scholar’s Table, Hong Kong, 1984, p. 161, nos. 105 and 106.