Lot 177. A rare silver raft group, 17th Century. 6 3/4 in., 17.2 cm. Estimate 10,000 — 15,000 USD. Lot sold 12,000 USD. Courtesy Sotheby's.

cast in the form of a woman, boy and deer transported in a gnarled hollowed pine log raft, the seated lady sheltered by an overhanging branch and grasping a long lotus pod as a steering paddle, (stand). Quantité: 2.

Provenance: Christie's Hong Kong, 1/3rd May 1994, lot 551.
Sotheby's London, 6th June 1995, lot 75.

Note: A bamboo root carved raft similarly depicting Ma Gu celebrating her birthday is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros Horn Carvings, Shanghai, 2001, pl. 61. Ma Gu, meaning 'Hemp Lady' was the Goddess of Longevity, an immortal female figure from a legend dating back to the 4th century. This piece is also reminiscent of the famous silver raft cup attributed to the Yuan dynasty, in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, vol. 10, Beijing, 1987, pl. 154. For log raft carvings with different groups of figures, compare the bamboo examples illustrated in Ip Yee and Laurence C.S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, part 1, Hong Kong, 1978, pls. 110, 111 and 174, and the rhinoceros horn raft in this sale, lot 173.