A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP

QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY

Details

A DEHUA HEHE ERXIAN GROUP
QING DYNASTY, 18TH/19TH CENTURY
Modelled in the form of the laughing twins turned inwards to face one another, both standing on a large lotus leaf, atop a base of rolling waves one twin stands wearing loose robes open at the chest to reveal a ruyi-form necklace, his hair in two top-knots, in his right hand holding a large plantain leaf over his his shoulder, embracing his companion, similarly dressed with a loose robe to reveal a smaller ruyi-form necklace, with long hair trailing down his back and a bald patch on the top of his head, both hands holding onto a slightly opened basket to reveal the head of a tortoise
10 1/4 in. (26 cm.) high

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Lot Essay

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. The homophone he provides a rebus for harmony.

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. A slightly larger group was sold at Christie's Hong Kong, 1 December 2010, lot 2811.

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