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Lot Essay
Images of luohan, the enlightened followers of the Buddha, became exceedingly popular in China from the Tang period onwards. Because they were often depicted in groups of at least 16, artists began to imbue the different luohan with individualized or distinguishing characteristics of their spiritual states. The portrait-like depictions of many sculptures of luohan in different media from the Song dynasty onwards suggests that some of these depictions may have been portraits of actual monks.
A related Ming-dynasty wood figure of seated luohan in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in
Gugong Bowuyuan cangping daxi: diaosu bian 9 (Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Sculpture 9), Beijing, 2009, pp. 119, no. 90. See, also, Christie's New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1784, for a similarly depicted Ming-dynasty figure of a luohan in bronze.
A related Ming-dynasty wood figure of seated luohan in the collection of the Palace Museum, Beijing, is illustrated in
Gugong Bowuyuan cangping daxi: diaosu bian 9 (Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Sculpture 9), Beijing, 2009, pp. 119, no. 90. See, also, Christie's New York, 22 March 2019, lot 1784, for a similarly depicted Ming-dynasty figure of a luohan in bronze.