Page 110 - Bonhams September 10 2018 New York Chinese Works of Art

139
A POLYCHROMED WOOD FIGURE OF A LUOHAN
Ming dynasty Provenance
Carved seated on a rockery base, leaning slightly forward, the Sotheby’s, London, 9 November 2016, lot 299
face with an animated expression and open mouth, beneath a
pronounced bump on the forehead, dressed in long robes with a The inscription on the back reads Jin shan Beili xinshi Hao Tang
kasaya draped over the left shoulder, the right hand held at waist jiaren, Fengshi zao, followed by an illegible date, and may be
level with the left resting on the left knee, the back inscribed in ink translated as ‘Practicing charity to the greatest extent, devotee Hao
with a dedicatory inscription, the surfaces with traces of gesso and Tang and family from the Northern neighborhood, made by Feng’.
pigments.
23 3/4in (60.5cm) high Luohans are regarded as the original disciples of Buddha and sets
of them, numbering from sixteen to five hundred, were enshrined in
$35,000 - 40,000 larger Buddhist temples. As a means of attaining merit, donors would
commission individual images and dedicate the merit to deceased
明 木雕彩塑羅漢坐像 family members. Wealthier devotees could commission entire sets.
Similar examples have sold at Sotheby’s New York; one of similar size
背款 and pose, but dated Song/Yuan dynasty, was sold 13-14 September
盡善北里信士郝堂家人馮氏造 2016, lot 157, and larger Ming dynasty examples were sold 21 March
2018, lot 567 and 568.

108 | BONHAMS