In 1993 we had the pleasure of meeting the celebrated master carver Ni Wei Bin on the famous 'antiques' street Dong Tai Lu in Shanghai and bought a beautiful pure white mutton fat archers ring from him. The same evening we visited his studio and bought some more things including an exquisite Guanyin (See Quick Find 6855). In 1993 we had no clue who Ni Wei Bin was as he did not speak English and we did not speak mandarin. But we just loved the quality of the carvings which we saw. This boy came also from Ni Wei Bin's studio. Whether it was carved by the master himself is not clear as it does not carry his signature as with the Guanyin. The carving is however so nice that we wouldn't be surprised if Ni Wei Bin spent some time on it. Depicted is a kneeling boy with a gourd in his hands. The boy represents the wish to get many sons and the gourd wards of evil. He is carved from greyish white jade with some 'skin' remaining on his head and lower back. Length 5.4 cm. Height 3.3 cm. Width 3.2 cm.