Three Chinese carved coral figural groups

Three Chinese carved coral figural groups, meiren and peach, man and basket, meiren and flower

The first carved as a meiren dressed in flowing robes and leafy skirt, carrying a peach; the old fisherman carrying a fishing pole suspended with rings and a fish to the end; the meiren holding a flower with an suspended articulated basket, a fly whisk in her right hand, "MADE IN CHINA" label attached to underside of wood base (3).

(H: 6 1/2 in. (without base); H: 3 1/2 in. (without base); H: 6 in. (without base))

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 these 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.