A CARVED BAMBOO FIGURE OF ZHONG KUI 17TH CENTURY |

depicted seated on an elaborate jagged rockwork with an infant seated on his knee and playing with the sash around his loose robes with voluminous folds cascading around his feet, the figure portrayed looking down at the infant with his hand gently holding the back of the latter, the group further carved with a grinning demon crouching at his feet, zitan stand

Sotheby's Hong Kong, 7th May 2002, lot 631.

Skillfully carved in the round from the root of the bamboo, this piece depicts Zhong Kui, the legendary scholar who committed suicide on the steps of the Imperial Palace after being deprived of holding the title for passing the civil service examinations. After returning to the mortal world to save Emperor Xuanzong (685-762) from the evil spirits and ghosts plaguing his sleep, he was posthumously restored to his rightful position, and given the sobriquet ‘Demon Chaser’. A similar carving of Zhong Kui was sold in these rooms, 7th May 2002, lot 631; another signed Sansong (ca. 1573–1619), from the collection of Walter and Mona Lutz, was sold in our New York rooms, 18^th March 2008, lot 48; and a larger example attributed to the 18^th century, from the Simon Kwan collection, was included in the exhibition Ming and Qing Bamboo, The Art Museum, Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, 2000, cat. no. 70.