Pair of red and brown lacquered wooden carvings with very nice facial expressions, depicting two Immortals named Hé and Hé, known in China as He He Erxian (和合二仙). They are twins, popularly associated with a Happy Marriage, and also known as the ‘Immortals of Harmony (和) and Union (合)’. Immortals are said to be immune to heat and cold, they can fly, they dwell apart from the chaotic world of man, subsist on air and dew, are not anxious like ordinary people, and have the smooth skin and innocent faces of children. Hé and Hé are usually depicted as two smiling happy boys of which one holds a lotus flower (荷, hé) and the other one a box (盒, hé) but these two each have a box in their hands. The carvings originally formed part of a piece of furniture or a bed and entered our collection from Shanghai in 2003. They date from the Qing Dynasty (1644 – 1912). Height 9.4 cm. Width 5.6 cm.