Page 34 - Reginald and Lena Palmer Collection EXHIBITION, Bonhams London Oct 25 to November 2 2021

Shengying Temple; photograph by Ernest Boerschmann, in Die Baukunst
und Religiose Kulture der Chinesen, Berlin, 1911-31, vo.3, pl.10

The screen is superbly carved with eight of the Sixteen Luohans, see for example a zitan, lacquer jade and gilt-decorated sixteen-leaf
including Angaja, Ajita, Vanavasin, Kalika, Vajriputra, Kanakavatsa, screen, Qianlong, in the Yunguanglou, illustrated by N.Berliner, The
Bhadra and Kanaka Bharadvaja (top to bottom, right to left). The Emperor’s Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City, New
screen would have been part of a pair of screens making a total of Haven, 2010, pp.164-171; see also a green jade set of the Eighteen
sixteen luohans. Luohans, known as ‘Guardians of the Buddhist law’, Luohans, Qing dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in
became popular in China in the 7th century, and their numbers varied, Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 8 Qing
from sixteen to eighteen. Dynasty, Beijing, 2011, no.266.

In 1757 the Qianlong Emperor visited the Shenying temple in present The gilt inscriptions incised beside each luohan on the Palmer screen
day Hangzhou, to personally inspect the Luohan paintings by Guanxiu are the poems written by the Qianlong Emperor, which makes it
made in 891 AD. The Emperor was deeply moved by the paintings likely that this screen was specially commissioned by the Emperor or
and wrote a poem for each of the Luohans in the paintings. He presented to him as tribute.
then instructed the Court artist Ding Guanpeng to create copies of
Guanxiu’s Luohans, which the Emperor inscribed. In the following The reverse of the screen is carved with a pair of cranes on rockwork
decades the Qianlong Emperor had artisans reproduce the images beside lingzhi fungus, under pine and wutong trees, below a precipice.
in a variety of materials including jade, and the present screen is Cranes are symbolic of longevity, and are often associated with
one such testament to the Emperor’s personal devotion. Luohan Shoulao, the God of Longevity. This symbolism is further reinforced
images appeared repeatedly through the Emperor’s garden in the in this screen by the pine, representing the wish for long life, as their
Ningshougong in the Forbidden City and particularly in Yanghe, combination stands for the saying Song ling he shou, ‘Live as long as
Jingshe and Yunguanlou, depicted in paintings, kesi screens and jade; pine and a crane’. The lingzhi too is symbolic of long life.

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