A SUPERB BAMBOO CARVING OF LIU HAIFeng Sanguan, 1550 – 1750The immortal deftly carved in a reclining position, depicted wearing loose-fitting robes and bare-foot on a rocky outcrop, his left hand resting upon his raised left knee, his right hand holding a coin, a three-legged toad at his feet, engraved at a section of rock behind his back with a signatureSanguan zuo ('Made by Sanguan'), the bamboo well-patinated to a brown colour, wood stand and fitted box.10.8cm (4 1/4in) long (3).Provenance: 1550 – 1750年 竹雕劉海戲金蟾「三官作」款Provenance:Bluett & Sons Ltd., London, June 1968Published:G.Tsang and H.Moss,Arts from the Scholar's Studio, no.140L.C.S. Tam,Chinese Bamboo Carving. Part I, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, p.399, no.132.Exhibited:Fung Ping Shan Museum, Hong Kong, 24 October - 13 December 1986來源:倫敦Bluett & Sons Ltd.，1968年6月出版:曾柱昭及莫士撝，《文玩萃珍》，編號140譚志成，《中國竹刻藝術》，香港藝術館，1978年，頁399，編號132展覽:馮平山博物館，香港，1986年10月24至12月13日According toZhongguo yishujia zhenlue, Feng Sanguan was a Qing-dynasty bamboo carver from Jiading, Jiangsu province. The same source gives two other members of the Feng family, Feng Yuanguan and Feng Wenguan as also being active in the field. Although the Fengs are not given a more precise date, it is likely that they worked in the early Qing dynasty, possibly even the late Ming dynasty. The style here suggests the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century florescence of southern bamboo carving and the sculptural and technical quality of the carving are unsurpassed, although such quality certainly continued well into the latter part of the Qing dynasty with selected artists.For a very similar carving of Liu Hai but missing the three-legged toad, see National Museum of History,The Art of Bamboo Carving, Taipei, 1996, p.148.《中國藝術家征略》記述封三官為清代江蘇嘉定人，擅竹刻，並述封氏另有兩名成員：封元官和封文官，亦精竹刻。中國文獻對藝匠的身世記載一般甚爲籠統，故此現時研究未能更準確地確定封氏的活躍年份，有可能是清初甚至晚明。本品帶有十七和十八世紀南方竹刻鼎盛時期的風格，雕刻工藝非常精湛，不過，直至清代後期仍然有個別藝匠能夠與前朝卓越水準媲美。比較一例，紋飾與本品非常相近，惟無三足蟾，參考國立歷史博物館，《竹刻藝術》，台北，1996年，頁148。