Figurine: Chinese Zodiac and Kui Xing

"A very rare and scarce Chinese lace burl root sculpture from the root of the Chinese Dawn redwood tree, with naturally formed crevices and protrusions, containing the animals of the Chinese Zodiac, various attendants, and at the top, a very rare and important sculpture of Kui Xing, the figures with inlaid jet eyes, the sculpture on a wood stand, late 17th/early 18th century, 7” high, to top of Kui Xing 9.5”.

Kui Xing, the Star Prince, is also the name given to the group of four stars forming part of the northern polar constellation, often called the Big Dipper or Northern Dipper, known in the West as the Great Bear, or Ursa Major. The Big Dipper is traditionally depicted on Chinese star maps in a recognizable dipper-shaped configuration consisting of seven stars. The Chinese generally depict a strange animalistic shape in the center of the Big Dipper. Such depictions have two ‘eyes” composed of stars, and was enigmatic but became Daoists into a celestial figure of a man, and revered in traditional temples as a semi-deity or saint, and became known as Great Kui the Star Prince. " - Bernie McManus, Appraiser, Woodbury House, 7/9/2015