Page 303 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE ASIAN COLLECTOR (another view)

1587

A BLUE AND WHITE ‘LUOHAN’ CENSER
KANGXI PERIOD (1662-1722)

The cylindrical censer is raised on three low, rectangular feet and decorated
in vibrant tones of blue with the Eighteen Luohan crossing the sea. The base is
inscribed with an apocryphal Jiajing reign mark in underglaze blue.

6 in. (15.5 cm.) high

$30,000-50,000

PROVENANCE

Christie’s London, 6 June 1988, lot 93.
Sotheby’s Paris, 13 June 2012, lot 153.

Luohan (also known as arhan or arhat) are Buddhist enlightened beings who act as worldly
conduits to the state of infnitely expanded consciousness granted by their enlightenment.
Numbers vary in Buddhist iconography, but eighteen was eventually established as the
standard Chinese grouping which became popular in later Chinese art, appearing in a wide
variety of media. The present brush pot vividly depicts the luohan in demonstrating various
magical powers, which is rare to fnd. A Kangxi blue-and-white ‘eighteen luohan’ censer of
similar form and size, but depicting the luohan in conversation, 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 3574. Compare, also, a Kangxi blue-and-white ‘eighteen
luohan’ censer depicting the luohan in conversation, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 6 October
2015, lot 135.
清康熙 青花十八羅漢圖三足香爐

301