A WHITE AND RUSSET JADE CARVING OF A THREE-LEGGED TOAD QianlongA WHITE AND RUSSET JADE CARVING OF A THREE-LEGGED TOADQianlongThe large pebble carved with warty skin, protruding eyes and small nostrils, crouching beside a cluster of pomegranates, the muscular legs with long webbed feet tucked underneath the body, the stone of white tone with russet patches. 7cm (2 3/4in) wide. 清乾隆 玉雕三足蟾蜍Provenance: Sotheby's Hong Kong, 18 May 1989, lot 823Joseph (1938-2005) and Bella (1941-2011) Shapiro, and thence by descent來源:香港蘇富比, 1989年5月18日，拍品編號823Joseph Shapiro (1938-2005)和 Bella Shapiro (1941-2011)舊藏，並由後人保存迄今The three-legged toad is the companion to the Daoist Immortal Liu Hai, the God of Wealth. How a toad became linked to wealth and riches could be due in part to the nature of certain Chinese dialects. The Chinese word for 'toad' is chan 蟾; and in some dialects, the character chan is a homophone to the character for 'money' or qian 錢. Thus, in a dialect, one could easily hear 'Liu Hai playing with the toad' as 'Liu Hai playing with gold coins'. See a related white and russet jade carving of a three-legged toad, Qing dynasty, illustrated in Chinese Jade Animals, Hong Kong, 1996, no.178.See a related pale green jade carving of a toad, Qing dynasty, which was sold at Sotheby's New York, 27 September 2021, lot 593.public_sentiment_keywords: Jade +hanis_parse: 20230413image: yuzhan_bonhams_item/51930643.jpgsold_price_type: £