Depicted draped in a flowing robe, fluttering at the sleeves and hem, her hair pulled into a high chignon, delicately bearing a slender baluster vase, in front of a phoenix perched atop a blossoming stem, rockwork and lingzhi spray, the stone of an attractive green with traces of russet, some cleverly incorporated into the carved motifs; with a pierced carved wood stand.

H: 10 1/4 in. (without stand)

Provenance: Property formerly in the Collection of Eldridge Reeves Fenimore Johnson (1899-1986)
Thence by descent in the family.

NOTE: E. R. F. Johnson was a noted explorer, yachtsman and researcher. He was a pioneer in the development of underwater photography and had close ties with the University of Pennsylvania, where a collection of his photographs are preserved. His father was Eldridge Reeves Johnson (1867-1945), the founder of the Victor Talking Machine Company, later RCA. It is very possible this may have been originally acquired by the elder E. R. Johnson, given that he gave Chinese works of art to the University of Pennsylvania Museum in 1920 and 1927, including the large crystal ball said to have belonged to the Dowager Empress Cixi, the pair of carved stone reliefs of the favorite horses of the Tang Emperor Taizong, and numerous jade and coral carvings.