CHINA. Carved wooden STATUE depicting Shu Lao,... Lot 1

CHINA. Carved wooden STATUE depicting Shu Lao, god of Longevity, carrying his gourd at the end of his stick, glass pupils. H: 129 cm (three fingers missing from the right hand). Provenance: former Lü Xiaguang collection (1906-1974). Born in China, the artist arrived in France in 1930 at the age of 24, accompanied by his friend, the horse painter Xu Beihong (1895-1953), to study at the Beaux-Arts in Paris and Brussels. He returned to China in 1936 and put his art at the service of war propaganda for Chiang Kai Chek's Kuomintang. He returned to France in 1946, where he established himself as a painter and art dealer until his death in 1994.