Page 204 - Christies King St. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART

A RECENTLY DISCOVERED IMPORTANT EARLY
MING SCULPTURE
ROSEMARY SCOTT, INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIC
DIRECTOR ASIAN ART
The large fgure of a seated luohan in the current sale appears to
have been kept, unpublished, in a private collection in England
prior to its discovery by the current owner in a general antiques
sale in London in 2012. Its importance was not recognized until
the current owner undertook further research. In order to aid the
establishment of an accurate date for the sculpture, radiocarbon
measurements of the wood from which the fgure was carved
were undertaken by two internationally respected research
laboratories – the Research Laboratory for Archaeology and
the History of Art, University of Oxford, and RCD RadioCarbon
Dating in Wantage. Both laboratories produced similar dates –
AD 1296 to 1403. The current owner also contacted the Royal
Botanic Gardens at Kew, who were able to ascertain that the
wood itself was of the genus Tilia – known as lime tree in Britain, venerable old man, while Ananda is depicted as a handsome
and linden or basswood elsewhere.
As can be seen from fgures 1, 2 & 3 (taken during conservation),
when purchased in 2012, the fgure was heavily encrusted with
darkened layers of shellac and bituminous varnish, which all but
obscured the details of decoration and the coloured pigments
applied to the fgure. After cleaning it could be seen that a
signifcant proportion of these pigments had been preserved
and the magnifcence of the luohan’s original appearance could
be appreciated. Not only details of the face and hair, but most
especially the design and colours of the robes could be seen in
their full splendor.
The term luohan is the Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit
word, arhat, which was originally a term referring to those who
had achieved a high degree of enlightenment. However, by the
Tang dynasty in China (AD 618-907), luohans were considered
the disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha, who maintain his
teachings until the coming of the Future Buddha, Maitreya. The
political strife of the 7th and 8th centuries left many devotees
eagerly anticipating the arrival of Maitreya, and thus elevated
the importance of the luohan. That popularity endured for
centuries thereafter, even during times of relative peace and
prosperity in China. Prior to the 7th century, luohans were
generally represented by a pair of standing fgures fanking an
image of Buddha, usually identifed as Kashyapa and Ananda,
two of the ten principle disciples of Buddha and important
fgures in early Buddhism. Kashyapa generally stands on the
Buddha’a left, while Ananda stands on the Buddha’s right.
These fgures can be seen on either side of the Buddha in the
Northern Wei Central Binyang Cave at Longmen (see Angela
Falco Howard, et al., Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, London &
Beijing, 2006, p. 238, fg. 3.39) and in a niche at the Huangze
Monastery in Sichuan Province, carved in the Northern
Zhou period (ibid., p. 289, fg. 3.94). The introduction of the
Nandimitra Sutra (Record of the Abiding Dharma Spoken by
the Great Arhat Nandimitra) from India to China by the monk
Xuanzang (AD 602-664), and its translation into Chinese,
had a signifcant efect on the place of luohans within Chinese
Buddhism. Rather than depicting only two luohans, these
disciples began to appear in groups of 16, 18, 100 or 500 - with
18 being the most common.
Despite the dignifed upright posture of the current fgure, there
are several elements which suggest that the craftsman did not
intend to depict a young man. Two features are particularly
telling. Firstly the luohan is shown with long eyebrows, which
is usually a sign of venerable old age on such images. Secondly
the throat of the fgure is depicted with prominent cords, also
suggestive of considerable age. In addition, a pronounced
protuberance can be seen in the centre of the luohan’s forehead.
These features, combined with the style of the robe, suggest
that the fgure may be intended to represent Kashyapa, who,
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Fig. 1
圖一
as mentioned above, was one of the favourite disciples of
Shakyamuni. Indeed Kashyapa is perhaps the most famous of
Shakyamuni’s disciples. He is believed to emanate light, which
could explain the glowing white colour of the skin, where it is
exposed, on the current fgure. In Chan Buddhism Kashyapa
is often regarded as the frst Indian patriarch, while Ananda is
considered the second. In early depictions of Kashyapa he is
shown with features appropriate to his Indian origins, however,
by the Ming dynasty his features had become sinicised – as
on the current fgure – and he appears as a Chinese monk.
Kashyapa and Ananda are regarded as the oldest and youngest
of Shakyamini’s disciples. Hence Kashyapa is depicted as a
youth.
Large sculptural images of luohan groups were often created in
glazed ceramic, and these were both cheaper to produce and
often more durable than images made of organic materials.
Among the best known group of ceramic luohans is that removed
from caves northwest of Yixian (previously known as Yizhou),
Hebei province, to the east of Longmen, Henan province, in 1912.
These are now housed in various Western museums (discussed
by D. Leidy and D. Strahan in Wisdom Embodied: Chinese
Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York, 2010, pp. 112-16, nos. 23a and 23b). The dating of the
Yixian sculptures has been the subject of much scholarly debate
over the years with dates ranging from the Tang dynasty to the
Ming dynasty being proposed. In recent years the group has most
often been dated to the Liao dynasty (AD 907-1125), however
new research by Dr. Eileen Hsiang-ling Hsu, presented in a 2014
lecture at Wesleyan University Center for the Arts, ‘Monks in
Glaze: Workshop, Patronage, and Iconography of Large Luohan
Statues from North China’, has led her to suggest a Ming date
for the Yixian group. This is of particular interest since the highly
individualist faces of some of the Yixian luohans share elements
with that of the current fgure. It is also of interest to compare the
current fgure with another group of glazed ceramic sculptures
of Ming date. This group bear inscriptions dating them to the
20th year of Chenghua (AD 1484). Particularly noteworthy are
two almost identical seated luohan fgures, one of which is in
the Burrell Collection in Glasgow (illustrated in Richard Marks,
Rosemary Scott, et al., The Burrell Collection, Glasgow, 1987, p.
40) while the other is in the Seattle Museum of Art. The bodies of
these Chenghua fgures have similar impressive substance to the
current fgure, and although the faces lack the greater detail seen