A RARE AND LARGE CHINESE SPINACH-GREEN JADE FIGURE OF A LUOHAN

A RARE AND LARGE CHINESE SPINACH-GREEN JADE FIGURE OF A LUOHAN
18TH CENTURY

Depicted seated in dhyanasana holding a tablet in his left hand and a brush in his right, he wears long layered robes which fall in folds around his bare left foot, his well-defined face detailed with downcast eyes and wrinkles to his forehead, with finely incised hairs to his long beard and moustache, the deep green stone with brown and dark inclusions, 23.5cm.

Provenance: the Lawrence Collection of jades and hardstone carvings, purchased from Spink & Son prior to 1959.

Several of the Eighteen Luohans are associated with books or Buddhist scriptures, including Nandimitra and Panthaka. The figure depicted here is likely to be Angida, who is often portrayed as a learned old monk who could read scriptures written in Sanskrit. Jade sculptures of this kind have previously been dated to the Ming dynasty, but the style of the representation and carving somehow fits more comfortably with that of the early Qing dynasty.

Cf. Catalogue of the International Exhibition of Chinese Art, 1935-6, no.2860 for a similar figure lent to the exhibition by Mr and Mrs Edward Sonnenschein; see also G Wills, Jade of the East, p.104, nos.63-64 and N Zhou, Ancient Jades in Man, Immortal and Buddha, p.309, nos.360-361 for further related examples; see also Asian Art I, 17th November 2010, lot 337 for a comparable spinach-green jade figure of Buddha of the same size previously sold in these rooms.

十八世紀 碧玉雕羅漢

來源：勞倫斯珍藏玉石，1959年前購於Spink & Son。