Li Tieguai Item Number: 3510/6 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Shiwan stoneware figure of Li Tieguai, the Daoist immortal who represents the sick and poor, dressed in beggar’s clothes and seated, with hands on his right knee, on a large double calabash gourd (hulu), glazed in copper red. The male figure is partially wrapped in a white blanket, and wearing a white knotted headband. Underneath him is a long crutch. The piece is hollow and stamped with the artist's seal along the bottom edge. Characters written along interior.
Shiwan ware (石灣窯)is a type of pottery from the Shiwanzen Subdistrict (石灣鎮街道) of the city of Foshan, near Guangzhou, Guangdong (广东省), China. 石灣 (Shiwan) is also sometimes transliterated as Shekwan.
Li Tieguai (李鐵拐) is a mythological figure, one of the Eight Immortals (八仙). He is usually depicted carrying an iron-crutch and a gourd bottle containing medicine, but in this figure, he is shown sitting on a gourd.
Purchased by the donor from the ‘Shek Wan Art Pottery Exhibition’, Hong Kong. Their accompanying exhibition catalogue was signed by the artist.