A white jade double-gourd 'Hehe Erxian' vase and cover


Mid Qing DynastyMasterfully carved and well hollowed as a double-gourd vase resting on a rocky base, two boys with jovial expressions carved around the exterior, one kneeling to receive the other descending on ruyi-head clouds and carrying long sprigs of lotus blossoms and stems curling around the vase carved with a further four bats, the lid carved with a curling stem, the softly-polished stone of an even white tone, wood stand. 17cm (6 5/8in) high. (3).
|清中期 白玉雕和合二仙葫蘆蓋瓶Provenance: Louis Joseph Ltd., London, 25 February 1975Lowenthal Collection, no.61來源：1975年2月25日，購於倫敦Louis Joseph Ltd.Lowenthal藏品，编號61The present lot is laden with auspicious symbolism and puns. The double-gourd is associated with containing the elixirs of immortality and is the attribute of the Daoist Immortal Li Tieguai. The bats, pronounced bian fu (蝙蝠), are a pun for 'good fortune' (fu 福). One of the boys carries a lotus, pronounced he (荷) which is also a pun for 'harmony' (he 和). The boys themselves represent the Hehe Erxian (和合二仙), or the Two Immortals of Harmony and Unity. Compare with a related yellow jade vase with children, Qianlong, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade, vol 10, Beijing, 2010, p.59, no.32.See also a related white jade 'Hehe Erxian' vase, 18th century, which was sold at Sotheby's London, 11 May 2016, lot 104.THE LOWENTHAL COLLECTION OF JADESHans 'Jack' Lowenthal was born in Frankfurt, Germany but at the age of five was brought to Britain with the rest of his family by his father in 1933. Although he briefly returned to Germany in 1934-1937 he thereafter permanently settled London. His father Julius Lowenthal founded the Smokers' and other accessories' business in Germany in 1921 but when he invented the most original semi-automatic lighter in 1928 he named it Colibri. Colibri gift lighters, pens, watches wallets became internationally well-known under the Colibri brand. In 1953, Hans Lowenthal joined Colibri and was the Managing Director for over 25 years. Lowenthal enjoyed designing and creating new products and he holds several important patents. Among the most important of his inventions was incorporating the Piezo-electric concept into a lighter, thereby creating a lighter that never needed a flint or battery, as the ignition spark was created manually. In 1967, he named the Colibri version 'Molectric' (molecular electricity). He also supervised Colibri when commisioned to design and manufacture the 'Golden Gun' and various Colibri products for the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun. Julius Lowenthal began collecting jades in the 1950s, and one of his first items included a jade axe (Lot 127). Jack inherited his father's interest in jade and stone carvings and continued to collect and regularly attended auctions. In the late 1960s and 1970s, Jack purchased jade carvings from several well-known dealers including Louis Joseph, Hugh Moss, Roger Keverne, Michael Gillingham, and Marchants. Jack was a particularly passionate collector of tactile jade carvings of animals.