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Lot Essay
The deer (lu) is a pun for 'road' (lu), and two deer stand for 'all roads', or for all things going smoothly. Here they are depicted with lingzhi fungus, a symbol of immortality, and a bat (fu).
It is possible that this hollowed carving may originally have been the cover of a box, but it is also possible that the carver took his inspiration from rhinoceros horn cups carved in the form of recumbent animals, such as the two cups illustrated by J. Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pp. 83-4, no. 57, of recumbent goat form, and no. 58, of recumbent deer form.
It is possible that this hollowed carving may originally have been the cover of a box, but it is also possible that the carver took his inspiration from rhinoceros horn cups carved in the form of recumbent animals, such as the two cups illustrated by J. Chapman in The Art of Rhinoceros Horn Carving in China, London, 1999, pp. 83-4, no. 57, of recumbent goat form, and no. 58, of recumbent deer form.