A Large Chinese Imperial Lapis Lazuli Boulder Carving

A Large Chinese Imperial Lapis Lazuli Boulder Carving, incised with a poem, Qing Dynasty, 18th century, with a later gilt bronze stand, 23cm (26cm including the stand). One side depicts a Luohan sitting amongst rocks with a squirrel on his lap, and with a gnarled tree clinging to a ledge across from a waterfall. The summit beneath clouds inscribed with a poem in five lines, the characters gilded. The reverse with a large knotty pine tree and water cascading from rocks also beneath clouds. The stone flecked and speckled with gold. The ormolu stand well cast with three fruiting leafy pomegranate branches. The poem reads: 'Yu Ti Luo Han Zan, Wan Wu Wo Bei He Shu He Qin, Shou Fu Shan Wu Xi Qi Xing Xun, Xun Ze Bu Rao Xi Ze Wu You, Yu Zhu Zhong Sheng Fo Tu You You.' which can be translated as: 'Imperial inscription in praise of the Luohan, The ten thousand things are complete in me; all comers are like the family, In my hand I hold a squirrel; I rejoice that it is good-natured. Being good-natured, it is not disturbed; being joyful it has no regrets, And together with all sentient beings, we wander in the land of Buddha.' Provenance The Hon. Mrs Mary Anna Marten OBE, Crichel House, Dorset. Purchased prior to 1953. Catalogue Note In China, lapis lazuli is known as qing jin shi (blue-gold stone). Although lapis beads have been excavated which date to the Han dynasty, there are no records of the use of lapis before the Qing dynasty. Cf. Ming Wilson, The Colour of Stones, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramics Society 1997-98, vol.62. p.34. Cf. Zhongguo yuqi quanji, vol. 6, Shijiazhuang, for another lapis lazuli carved boulder in the Palace Museum, Beijing, 1993, pls. 262 and 263. and another in the Le Shou Tan, (Hall of Joyful Longevity). See also Sotheby's Paris, 18th December 2009, lot 206 for a smaller example. With thanks to Professor Roderick Whitfield and Ching-Yi Huang of SOAS their help in cataloguing this lot.