A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP

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.