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PROPERTY FROM THE DE AN TANG COLLECTION 清乾隆 青玉陰刻描金十六羅漢贊玉冊
AN EXCEPTIONALLY RARE GILT-PAINTED AND 來源：
INSCRIBED JADE BOOK OF SIXTEEN LUOHAN, 傳法國私人收藏
QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD 紐約蘇富比2004年9月22日，編號53
each mounted panel 16.8 by 9.8 cm;
album 21.5 by 14.2 by h. 4.5 cm
PROVENANCE
A French private collection, by repute.
Sotheby’s New York, 22nd September 2004, lot 53.

HK$ 500,000-800,000
US$ 64,000-103,000

During the Qianlong period, the making of jade books that it may have been produced in the imperial jade
entered an era of unprecedented development. This was due workshops. The five-clawed dragon detailing to the damask
to the Emperor’s initiative and interest and to the sudden lining of the album may support its imperial origins.
increase in the supply of raw material. A preliminary reading of the images may indicate the
This rare set of jade tablets follows the tradition of luohan following order of identification of the luohan images: Cula-
imagery derived from the Five Dynasties monk-painter panthaka, Ajita, Vanavasi, Rahula, Nagasena, Panthaka,
Guanxiu (832-912), whose unique depictions of the sixteen Subinda, Vajraputra, Nakula, Angaja, Kalika, Pindola-
luohan as ascetic old men with foreign features occupy the bharadvaja, Kanaka-paridhvaja, Kanaka-vatsa, Jivaka, and
foremost position in the development of luohan iconography Bhadra. It is also interesting to note that the iconography
in China. A particular fashion and prestige for jade books of the sixteen luohan, more popular in the 16th and
of this type depicting the sixteen luohan in the style of 17th century, is clearly distinct from that of the eighteen
Guanxiu, seems to have occurred under the reign of the luohan, which became more popular in the late Qing dynasty.
Qianlong Emperor, who personally sought to preserve Various elements in the present book, such as the single-
Guanxiu’s images and provide greater accessibility to them horned bull, pagoda, and demon attendants, are also seen on
by commissioning the engraving of Guanxiu’s sixteen luohan a 17th century scroll after Ding Yunpeng, exhibited in Unveil
onto stone tablets and ordering copies to be set up in Arhats - Encounter the Arhats, Broaden your Mind, Taipei,
eighteen provinces. 2003, pp. 70-87.
In a related jade book in the Chester Beatty Library that See a closely related Qianlong period jade book of the
is partially illustrated in William Watson, Chinese Jade sixteen luohan, formerly from the collection of Cornelius
Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 1963, pls 6-7 J. Hauck, sold in these rooms, 8th April 2007, lot 605.
and that appears to be the only jade book of this type in Compare also a Qing dynasty set of sixteen gilt-lacquered
a public collection, the portraits of the sixteen luohan and wood luohan figures, sold in these rooms, 27th March 2003,
accompanying inscriptions closely resemble the stone lot 16.
tablets commissioned by the Qianlong Emperor, suggesting

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