Juliette Hammer
Sale Coordinator
Lot 11
A LARGE BAMBOO 'HEHE ERXIAN' CARVING 17th/18th century
14 May 2025, 10:00 BST
London, New Bond Street£6,000 - £8,000
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Chen Xie
Specialist
Edward Luper
Specialist, Chinese Works of Art
Lazarus Halstead
Head of Chinese and Asian Art, London
A LARGE BAMBOO 'HEHE ERXIAN' CARVING
17th/18th century
The large rootwood carved as a gnarled rocky outcrop with lingzhi fungus, the Immortals with jovial expressions and finely incised long hair, one carrying a circular box and cover, the other a sprig of lotus.
27cm (10 5/8in) high.
The large rootwood carved as a gnarled rocky outcrop with lingzhi fungus, the Immortals with jovial expressions and finely incised long hair, one carrying a circular box and cover, the other a sprig of lotus.
27cm (10 5/8in) high.
Footnotes
十七/十八世紀 竹雕和合二仙擺件
The Hehe Erxian, also known as the 'Two Immortals of Harmony and Union,' are traditionally associated with a long and happy marriage. These Daoist Immortals trace their origins to the Tang dynasty (618–906) poet-monks Hanshan and Shide. By the late Ming dynasty, they were commonly depicted holding a lotus and a box—objects that form a visual pun on the homophones he (harmony) and he (union). In 1733, the Yongzheng Emperor formally decreed that they should be known as the 'Saints of Harmony and Unity.'
Compare with a related bamboo root carving but of Liu Hai and toad, with similarly carved rocky outcrops, Qing dynasty, in the Shanghai Museum, illustrated in Literati Spirit: Art of Chinese Bamboo Carving, Shanghai, 2012, p.109, no.46.
See a related finely-carved bamboo Hehe Erxian group, 17th/18th century, which was sold at Bonhams London, 7 November 2019, lot 96.