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You all have been great help in the past, your thoughts on this piece would be appreciated. I understand the "good luck" prosperity intent regarding this sculpture but age, material and provenance would be beneficial if you would venture a guess. It is finely detailed and one piece of stone. I will supply clickable linke below, if it does not work you may need to copy and paste into browser. As always, thanks...Eric

This could be a soft Serpentine or even Soapstone.
Three legged toads are always connected with money.
Ernest

Auspicious toads with an affinity for gold coins and commensurate ability to make their owners rich are the thing of Daoist legend in China. They have counterparts in Japanese myth as well. However, finding and catching one isn't easy.

One of the better known stories in China is of the ancient alchemist Liu Hai, who managed to catch a three-legged money toad to serve him. I've downoaded a couple of images here of an antique Yixing pottery model, along with the URL to a website with further information on Liu Hai and his toad.

Your model, which looks like a family portrait of money toads, appears to be modern from the carving style. Since all of your toads seem to have their limbs intact, I would think they probably represent the general myth instead of a specific legend. While this certainly looks like a soapstone carving, I've also seen some money toads cast in resin and painted in a similar fashion.

Best regards,

Bill H.





URL Title :moneytoads

I was contacted with information this work is ShouShan in origin. Does that seem correct?...Eric

ShouShan, possible, but still a soft stone.

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=ShouShan+picture&view=detail&id=4B39593B7A483312BCF663D161AAD1C1DD2F1883&first=1&FORM=IDFRIR

Ernest

I'm not a collector of Shoushan carvings, but my quick review via a Google search indicates that many of the money toads being marketed as 'Shoushan' are described as made of a mixture of Shoushan stone and resin. Other Shoushan carvings available in the natural stone mined at Shoushan (described as alabaster) don't appear to be painted or dyed, as seems to be the case with your toads.

Best regards,

Bill H,

Thanks for the input. It is definitely stone, not a composite and it has been suggested this piece is Shoashan stone early to mid 20th century...Eric

Fantastic!
Can you imagine the time and talent that it took
to make this sculpture? It appears that some
light surface stain may have been added to enhance the darker areas. If it is stained leave
it alone, the artist who made it meant it to be there. You could check with a cotton swab and
alchohol and see if it picks up the stain.

Thank you for all the posts and yes, the darkened areas have an applied stain or similar. The individual who sent me the information on Shoushan stone and art, also sent me the link below, I found it very interesting and informative. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/video/2010-11/19/content_11578940.htm I took the time to contact the family members (estate) from which this piece came, they could only attest to how long it was in their family and they remembered it being diplayed back to the 1950's and definitely 1 piece of stone...Eric

URL Title :Shoushan Stone Carving

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