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PROPERTY FROM A PRIVATE CONNECTICUT COLLECTION
931
A SET OF TEN GILT REPOUSSÉ COPPER FIGURES OF LUOHANS
18TH-19TH CENTURY
Each luohan is shown standing on a separate base, wearing crisply draped priest’s robes incised with foral
decoration. Each is shown with a smiling expression, and holding or accompanied by a diferent attribute,
including a dragon, prayer beads, and musical instruments.
8æ in. (22.2 cm.) high (10)
$60,000-80,000
PROVENANCE
Willard D. Straight (1880-1918) Collection, acquired before 1914.
The India House Club Collection, New York.
Christie’s New York, 19-20 September 2013, lot 1532.
Luohans, also known as arhats, are enlightened Buddhist beings who act as worldly conduits to the
state of infnitely expanded consciousness granted by their enlightenment. Images of luohans probably
originated in Kashmir, and were frst mentioned in the Mahayanavataraka, which was translated into
Chinese in AD 437; their names were later identifed by the early Tang dynasty pilgrim-monk Xuanzang
in AD 654. Numbers vary in Buddhist tradition, but a group of eighteen was eventually established as
the standard Chinese grouping, which became popular in later Chinese art, appearing in a wide variety
of media.
清十八/十九世紀 鎏金錘鍱羅漢立像一組十件
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