Lot 3323. A large and rare Ming wucai seated figure of Shoulao, Wanli period (1573-1620). Estimate HK$1,200,000 – HK$1,800,000 ($155,204 - $232,807). Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2016.

The God of Longevity is shown seated atop a recumbent deer raised on an oval plinth painted with clouds and waves breaking against rocks, and holding a ruyi in his right hand. He is dressed in a brightly coloured robe predominantly decorated with peony medallions on an iron-red diaper ground, the front and shoulders with blue-ground green dragon panels and the back with a medallion of an iron-red chilong, tied at the chest and partially open at the front to reveal the yellow under-garment centred with a cloud scroll. His head is detailed with a long beard, characteristically high bald crown and hair tied into a bow at the nape of the neck. The recumbent animal dappled in underglaze-blue, with fur markings streaked in sepia and with a yellow bell hung on a tasselled collar, the oval plinth painted with clouds and waves breaking against rocks, flanked at the front by a crane and tortoise, the broad unglazed foot rim encircling the base pierced with an aperture to one side and picked out in vivid green enamels. 15 1/2 in. (39.5 cm.) high

Provenance: Yamanaka & Co., 1935, Osaka Bijutsu Kurabu, no. 13 (fig. 1)
Edward T. Chow Collection, sold at Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 25 November 1980, lot 34
Dr. Elizabeth Shing, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong,1 June 2011, lot 3583 

fig. 1

Exhibited: Min Chiu Society Thirtieth Anniversary Exhibition, Selected Treasures of Chinese Art, 1990, no. 149

Christie's. THE IMPERIAL SALE / IMPORTANT CHINESE CERAMICS & WORKS OF ART, 1 June 2016, Convention Hall