MING DYNASTY, DATED 14TH YEAR OF CHENGHUA, CORRESPONDING TO 1478, AND OF THE PERIOD

Details

A LARGE DATED CAST-IRON FIGURE OF A SEATED LUOHAN
MING DYNASTY, DATED 14TH YEAR OF CHENGHUA, CORRESPONDING TO 1478, AND OF THE PERIOD
The figure is shown seated wrapped within his layered priest's robes. His face is cast with prominent features set in a stern, contemplative expression enhanced by the sharply angled eyes below bushy brows, and he has large ears and a bald, knobby head. A lengthy dedicatory inscription is cast in relief on the back. There are areas of rust and traces of pigment.
30 in. (76.2 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance

Acquired in New York, 1991.

Sale room notice

Please note the description of this lot is incorrect in Chinese.

Lot Essay

The inscription on the back of the figure states that the figure is dedicated by a group of donors from Xiyang Village, Quwo county (in Shanxi province) to the Pujiu Temple (also in Shanxi province) and dated fourteenth year of Chenghua.

Compare two cast-iron figures of seated luohan of Ming dynasty date, each with an inscription dated to 1494, in the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, China eine Wiege der Weltkultur, Roemer und Pelizaeus-Museum, Hildesheim, Germany, 1994, nos. 177 and 178.

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