17TH-18TH CENTURY

Liu Hai and his three-legged toad appear to have been popular subject matter for bronze incense burners in the late Ming and early Qing. For one bronze example of the toad alone, and a gilt bronze example of the laughing immortal riding the toad, both in the Musée Cernuschi, see M. Maucuer, Bronzes de la Chine impériale des Song aux Qing, Paris, 2013, p. 158, nos. 111 and 112, respectively.

A related bronze figure of Liu Hai, standing on one leg on top of a three-legged toad, is in the collection of the British Museum, museum reference no. 1992,0612.1.