A WELL-CAST IRON HEAD OF LUOHAN, cast with expressively modelled features, the eyes open, in a wide stare below a protruding thick brow and high forehead between pendulous ears and supported on a corded neck, Ming Dynasty

Details
A WELL-CAST IRON HEAD OF LUOHAN, cast with expressively modelled features, the eyes open, in a wide stare below a protruding thick brow and high forehead between pendulous ears and supported on a corded neck, Ming Dynasty
31cm. high, marble base
Provenance
Private Collection, Amsterdam, published in Asiatic Art in private collections of Holland and Belgium H.F.E. Visser, 1948 p.250, pl.85, no. 176

Lot Essay

Groups of lohan, also known as arhats or Buddhist saints, ranging in number from 16 to 100 are depicted in Chinese art from the Tang Dynasty up to recent times. Sixteen lohans are first mentioned in the Six Dynasties period; later, the number is increased to eighteen. They are usually treated as a form of portraiture in which individual features are personality traits are highlighted. The realistic features of this head are particularly striking

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