Chinese Carved Bamboo Root Immortal Statue

Wonder if it has some age or more recent?
Thanks

 

Dimensions are always appreciated. You can be over 90% certain it was carved in 2nd half of 20th C.

 

About 22" tall. What is it that tells the age?

 

He certainly looks like a jolly sort. I kind of like him.

 

Shoulao.

 

I think hes awesome myself ! Very appealing.

 

Thanks for that info. Gotheborg says his large forehead represents wisdom and long beard represents long life.

Wisdom and long life... I like that.

 

Thanks for the measurement.

To answer your question, the best answer is probably "wisdom." In this case I mean physical observations combined with a knowledge of when similar items were produced and marketed in quantity and for what market these were made. I'd guess you wouldn't find any on the market before WWII, because there was little or no market then. I think these were made for export for souvenir and gift use as opposed to any serious domestic sales in the country of origin. Production may have peaked around 1970. But notice I'm only about 91% sure. No question that this one shows high-quality carving. If the craftsman had signed his work I'd give it a higher score.

 

the carving's nice, but i've seen higher quality ......and you're right to expect a siggy on an older ......and better work.
just tourist quality...to my eye.

 

You no doubt know the following, but in case not.... This carving represents one of the Chinese 8 Immortal - Shou-xing, aka SHOU-HSING, SHOU-LAO, and NAN-JI-XIAN-WENG. An old man with a huge bald head is a dead give-away to his identity. Shou-xing was the god of longivity. He is represented by the staff and carrying a peach of immortality. FWIW, I agree he probably dates from Mid 20th century.

https://www.google.com/search?q=Shou-xing&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&client=safari

 

https://d3h6k4kfl8m9p0.cloudfront.net/stories/vyMV6USnRuLwArBl49Yxzg.jpgI actually have one of these carvings and thanks to Ladybranch I now know what it is. Thank you so much. Mine is very old looking and better carved; it's a beauty in person to handle it.