17TH/18TH CENTURY, SIGNED ZHOU BIN

Details

A FINELY CARVED SHOUSHAN SOAPSTONE FIGURE OF GUANYIN
17TH/18TH CENTURY, SIGNED ZHOU BIN
The figure is shown seated with one leg crossed in front of the other, exposing one bare foot, and with one hand holding a rosary resting on a raised knee. She is dressed in long, loose robes incised with phoenixes in flight amidst foliate decoration that fall in folds around the body. The hair is finely incised and stained with brown pigment, and pulled up into a tall chignon beneath a loosely draped cowl. The back of the robe is incised with a phoenix in the upper section and a dragon roundel in the lower section, and is inscribed Zhou Bin bai zhi (made by Zhou Bin). The figure is attached to a separately made, oval soapstone base of dark reddish-brown color.
7½ in. (44.5 cm) tall

Provenance

Nagatani, Inc., Chicago, Illinois, 1973.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert B. Mayer Collection, Winnetka, Illinois.

Sale room notice

Please note the measurement should read 6½ in. (16.5 cm.)

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Lot Essay

Zhou Bin, also known as Shang Jun, was a native of Zhangzhou in Fujian province. He is most famous for his seal carvings, luohan figures and, occasionally, seal paste boxes. It has also been suggested, though not conclusively proved, that he originally studied under Yang Yuxuan and later worked as an Imperial craftsman in the Palace workshops of the Kangxi emperor. For other soapstone pieces bearing various signatures of Zhou Bin, see G. Tsang and H. Moss, Arts from the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986: no. 43, a pair of seals signed Shangjun; no. 44, the figure of a luohan, signed Gumin Zhou Bin Shangjun shi zhi; and no. 84, a brush pot signed Zhou Bin and Shangjun.

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