+China 1880 Qing Dynasty Sculpture Of Liu Haichan Carved In Precious Rose Wood
Antique Chinese inmortal sculpture of Liu Haichan.
A very well detailed sculpture made in the 19th century, during the Chinese, Qing Dynasty (1644-1912), back in the circa 1880. It was completely carved from a single solid piece of rose-wood and is decorated with white porcelain hands and black glass eyes.
This beautiful sculpture depicts the semi-draped immortal young figure of Liu Haichan, standing in an organics motifs base with the left arm raised and a mythological dragon figure raising to the right leg.
Has a measures of 14.25 by 8.5 by 7.1 inches (36.19 x 21.59 x 18.03 cm).
Liu Haichan, (劉海蟾) was a Daoist Xian "transcendent; immortal" who is a patriarch of the quanzhen school, and a master of neidan "internal alchemy" techniques. Liu Haichan is associated with other Daoist transcendents, especially Zhongli Quan and Lu Dongbin, two of the eight immortals. Traditional Chinese and Japanese art frequently represented Liu with a string of square-holed cash coins and a mythical three-legged chánchú (蟾蜍) "toad; toad in the moon". In the present day, it is called the Jinchan (金蟾) "money toad", and Liu Haichan is considered an embodiment of caishen "god of wealth".
The Qing dynasty, officially the Great Qing, was the Manchu-led last dynasty in the imperial history of China. It was proclaimed in 1636 in Manchuria (modern-day Northeast China), in 1644 entered Beijing, extended its rule to cover all of China proper, and then extended the empire into Central Asia. The dynasty lasted until 1912. In orthodox Chinese historiography, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the Ming dynasty and succeeded by the Republic of China. The multiethnic Qing empire lasted for almost three centuries and assembled the territorial base for modern China. It was the largest Chinese dynasty and in 1790 the fourth largest empire in world history in terms of territorial size. With a population of 432 million in 1912, it was the world's most populous country at the time.
Qing Dynasty decorative arts, many craftsmen worked in the imperial court, producing artifacts for palace use: everything from items of jewelry art to beautiful Chinese lacquerware, including lacquered imperial thrones: see, for instance, the Qing Dynasty Imperial Throne (1775-80, Victoria and Albert Museum, London). The Imperial Household Department managed a number of crafts workshops both within the Forbidden City and outside it. Some of the skilled workers and master craftsmen were on permanent duty, like those in the imperial glass factory established in 1696 under the direction of the German Jesuit Kilian Stumpf (1655-1720). Other experts in gemstones carving, horn and jade sculpture and metallurgy were summoned to Beijing for a specific period of service.
Note: This sculpture is extremely well carved, made with very precise details and beautiful proportions.
This antique piece is in great condition, with no cracks, missing parts or alterations.
INVENTORY REF: D0000TNNG/.1111
