Page 71 - Bonhams UK Marsh Collection Art for the Literati November 2, 2022

'One cannot befriend a man without
obsessions, for he lacks deep emotion, nor
can one befriend a man without faults, for he
lacks integrity'.
Indeed, late Ming culture celebrated another
Monk known for his love of alcohol - Lu
Zhishen - from the novel Outlaws of the Marsh
(水滸傳) published in the 16th century. Lu's
love of alcohol, and enormous consumption
of it, also gets him into trouble, yet in the
novel he is a loveable character that attains
enlightenment. Seen within this context,
Saagata would have been well-received by
Ming dynasty literati.
Stylistically as well, the depiction of the Arhat
on the present lot tallies with paintings of
Arhats by Wu Bin (c.1573-1620) and Ding
Yunpeng (1547-1621). Ding Yunpeng excelled
in painting religious figures which were
meticulously executed with fine 'iron-wire'
lines. Wu Bin too in his Five Hundred Arhats
depicted an enormous number of Arhats in a
variety of postures and gestures. Their facial
expressions are also almost comical such
as in the present lot. Ding and Wu's work
were both reproduced in woodblock printed
books such as the Lidai minggong huapu (歷
代名公畫譜), published in the Wanli period,
and it is primarily through printed matter that
they influenced porcelain painters. See Three
Thousand Years of Chinese Painting, New
Haven and London, 1997, pp.236-238.
See a related blue and white sleeve vase,
dated to 1641, in the Ashmolean Museum,
Oxford, illustrated by R.S.Kilburn, Transitional
Wares and Their Forerunners, Hong Kong,
1981, p.35.
Compare with a related blue and white
sleeve vase, Chongzhen, but decorated with
horsemen, which was sold at which was sold
at Christie's New York, An Era of Inspiration:
17th Century Chinese Porcelains from the
Collection of Julia and John Curtis, 16 March
2015, lot 3532.