Page 390 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

1690

A FINELY CARVED MOTTLED RED AND BEIGE SOAPSTONE FIGURE OF A SEATED
LUOHAN
17TH CENTURY, SIGNED SHANG JUN

The fnely carved, seated fgure is shown holding a bird in his hands, and wearing a loosely
draped robe over pants from which his sandaled feet protrude. A small Buddhist lion rests his
head and right paw on the luohan’s knee. His somewhat feshy face is carved with a contented
expression, and the stubble of his beard and mustache are indicated by fne stippling, while his
hair is detailed by fne rounded markings. A two-character signature, Shangjun, is carved on
the back. The luminous stone is of warm, creamy honey color with bright red inclusions.

2æ in. (6.9 cm.) high

$60,000-80,000

Zhou Bin, also known as Shang Jun, was a native of Zhangzhou in Fujian province. He is most famous
for his seal carvings, luohan fgures and, occasionally, seal paste boxes. It has also been suggested,
though not conclusively proved, that he originally studied under Yang Yuxuan and later worked as an
Imperial craftsman in the Palace workshops of the Kangxi emperor.

A similar carving of a seated luohan with a Buddhist lion by Zhou Bin is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu
jinghua daquan - jin yin yu shi juan, Hong Kong, 1994, p. 82, no. 241. Another carving of a luohan and
Buddhist lion, signed Zixi, is illustrated by J. Wiegin in Från Kina till Europa, Stockholm, 1998, p. 34, no.
18. For additional examples of soapstone carvings of luohan with Buddhist lions, see two in the collection
of the Palace Museum illustrated in 50 Selected Gems of the Cultural Relics - Newly Collected in the
Palace Museum in the Last Fifty Years, Beijing, 1999, no. 192, the other illustrated by Chen in Shoushan
shidiao yishu, Hong Kong, 1993, no. 60.

For other soapstone pieces of diferent forms bearing various signatures
of Zhou Bin, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Arts from the Scholar’s Studio,
Hong Kong, 1986: no. 43, a pair of seals signed Shangjun; no. 44, the
fgure of a luohan, signed Gumin Zhou Bin Shangjun shi zhi; and no. 84, a
brush pot signed Zhou Bin and Shangjun.

明末清初 尙均款壽山石雕羅漢坐像

(signature)

(another view)

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