Foo dogs
I got a pair of foo dogs at an estate sale that had a lot of higher end art and collectibles and these look to be hand carved. The ball inside their mouths is freely moving and looks to have been carved inside of the mouth. They are about 9” tall, 5” long, and 3-1/2” wide. They appear to be a type of stone possibly nephrite. They weigh about 7 pounds each statue. There is no signature just numbers written on bottom of each.
I bought these at an estate auction with fine art and designer jewelry.
Other
Maybe
These are a pair of hand carved Chinese foo or Imperial temple guard dog bookend figurines in soapstone with the carver's folly of a rolling ball in their mouth. In China they are sometimes referred to as shishi, which translates to stone lion. Although called 'dogs' in the Western world these originally were a Buddhist interpretation of a lion. These are traditionally placed as a pair on each side of an entry for mythic protection. The male foo dog has the paw resting on a ball and the female is restraining a frisky cub. These are carved in the Art Deco style of the 1930's though may not be as old as the Deco era. The estimate is for the pair together and is based on actual recent past recorded auction sales of comparables. Retail 'asking prices' can be higher and vary.
