Description

Chinese soapstone carving of a scene from a folk tale: the famous Tang Dynasty poet, Meng Haoran (689-740) ventures out into the snow with his young attendant in search of plum blossoms in the snowy hills. In finding this hint of early spring, he hoped to find inspiration for his poems. They see an amazing plum tree starting it’s bloom in the cold of late winter. In this story sculpture, the scene is played out in beautiful soapstone; white sheets of ice and snow, orange rock is carved in the form of a gnarled tree trunk, the old poet on a donkey and the young boy pointing in amazement, mottled bits of orange stone have been transformed into delicate flowers in the snow. 18th/19th century.
Size: 7″ wide x 3 1/4″ high