A RARE INCISED AND GILT SPINACH-GREEN JADE 'LUOHAN' TABLE SCREEN QING DYNASTY, 18TH / 19TH CENTURY

of rectangular form, intricately decorated one side with the luohan Angida (Ayin'ajida), seated cross-legged on a rocky outcrop, cradling a gnarled staff and holding prayer beads in one hand while reading a Sanskrit sutra, beneath an inscription identifying him and an imperial eulogy, with five finely incised seal marks, the reverse inscribed with a Tang dynasty poem describing a luohan, possibly Pindola Bharadvaja, portrayed below seated beside a deer clasping lingzhi stems in its mouth, the left arm raised in a mudra, the left holding a small vase issuing vapor supporting a miniature figure of Buddha atop a double-lotus base, with four seals and an inscription dated Qianlong renwu, corresponding to 1762, boxwood stand (2)

A 3.3 cm horizontal stone crack to one edge. The stone with a network of greenish-yellow veining and yellowish-russet inclusions, more visible to the side showing Angida. Some of the gilding slightly rubbed. Further traces of gilding to the edges. The stone of a slightly paler green color than as shown in catalog image.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

The distinctive exaggerated depiction of the two luohan finely incised and gilt on the present screen originated with the famous Five Dynasties painter Guanxiu (823-912 AD), whose hugely influential rendition of each luohan's iconography is seen on a number of Qing dynasty jade carvings and works of art.

In 1757, the Qianlong emperor embarked upon a tour of inspection in southern China and visited Hangzhou where he was stationed near Shengyin Si, the monastery that owned the original paintings of the sixteen luohans by Guanxiu. The emperor believed the paintings to be the same set that had been recorded in the Xuanhe Huapu, the inventory of the Song dynasty emperor Huizong. Upon examining the paintings, it is reputed that the Qianlong emperor wrote a eulogy to each luohan image, renumbering them and providing a translation of their names in Chinese, see Nick Pearce, 'Images of Guanxiu's Sixteen Luohan in Eighteenth-Century China', Apollo, February 2003, pp. 25-31.

In 1764, the head abbot at the Shengyin Si monastery, Master Mingshui, instructed local stone engravers to copy the sixteen portraits, incising Guangxiu's lines as well as the emperor's calligraphy and seals onto sixteen large flat stones that were embedded into the sixteen sides of the marble Miaoxiang Pagoda, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue The Emperor's Private Paradise. Treasures from the Forbidden City, Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, 2010, fig. 23.

In the following decades, the Qianlong emperor had artisans reproduce the images in a variety of mediums, including incising them on jade plaques. A Qianlong period jade book in the Chester Beatty library, Dublin portraying sixteen luohan with accompanying inscriptions, is illustrated in William Watson, Chinese Jade Books in the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin, 963, pls 6-7. Another gilt-painted book depicting the eighteen luohans sold in these rooms, 22nd September 2004, lot 53.