MAGNIFICENT GREY LIMESTONE LUOHAN FIGURE
Ca. 618-907 AD. The figure is shown seated on a tree trunk wrapped in his priestly robes and holding clasps of a rosary (prayer beads) dangling from his left to right hand. His face is cast with prominent features carved in a stern, contemplative expression enhanced by sharply angled eyes, below arched long bushy brows, encompassing wrinkles, and an elongated face flanked by a large pair of pendulous earlobes. Luohans (The Eighteen Arhats) were regarded as the original followers of Buddha and large volumes of them, numbering from sixteen to five hundred, were enshrined in larger Buddhist temples. As a means of achieving merit, donors would commission individual images and dedicate the merit to deceased family members. Wealthier devotees could commission entire sets. The figure could be from a later period. Size: L: 760mm / W: 320mm; 30+kg Provenance: East Anglian private collection; formerly acquired in the early 1990s in Hong Kong.

Estimate: GBP 1500 - 3000