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

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.