History in the art world Yixian glazed pottery luohans



luohan @ royal ontario museum



detail royal ontario museum


the figures reportedly in hands of chinese dealers told german sinologist friedrich perzynski them in 1912, , subsequently showed him examples, of bought , exported europe. had apparently been found in 1 or more caves near yixuan, hebei, 100 miles south-west of beijing in northwestern china. perzynski claimed visited cave luohans had come from, time few fragments remained there. described episode in article deutsche rundschau after, repeating story in book published few years later, accuracy, indeed veracity, of account has been challenged in recent years.


in 1913 2 figures exhibited in paris (without bases), , third (with base) acquired british museum in 1914, see seated luohan yixian. 6 figures in museums in north america, 2 surviving , 1 missing or destroyed in europe, , 1 of set in japan. metropolitan acquired 2 examples separately in 1921, time boston, philadelphia, toronto , matsukata collection in japan had theirs, , further 4 owned private collectors , dealers , making total of ten figures, besides great many small fragments, several hands , feet, , baskets full of broken pieces .


the figure long thought lost museum für ostasiatische kunst in berlin head , bust length fragment, 60 cm high, of younger man head turned left, , shoulder bared. in 2011 lecture derek gillman reported stanley abe, fellow specialist, had been shown in storeroom of hermitage museum in st petersburg. figure in paris uncertain member of group, similar overall, differences in posture of shoulders , stippled design on robes. many scholars question whether belongs group.


to surprising degree, number of surviving pieces differs between sources. older sources there eight, including berlin figure. 3 of these, in boston, japan , ontario, reported have later heads. may explain why william watson in 2000 wrote 5 luohan in sancai pottery preserved in western museums , presumably excluding example in japan. group of 9 listed laurence sickman , others includes examples berlin (as present location unknown ) , japan (as matsukata collection ) excludes 1 in paris. 2010 gillman says presumably same japanese example in saizon museum of modern art (more sezon ).


several of current museum web pages mention group of eight, counting berlin, plus metropolitan museum of art (with two) in new york city, british museum in london, nelson-atkins museum of art in kansas city, boston museum of fine arts, royal ontario museum in toronto, ontario, , penn museum in philadelphia. current penn museum webpage lists 8 surviving figures, including matsukata collection excluding paris , berlin. lecturing in 2011, derek gillman, executive director , president of barnes foundation, said there 9 known examples; there s tenth may part of group, , 3 known, er, believed have been broken .


the luohan @ royal ontario museum, in bishop white gallery of chinese temple art, 1 of first pieces included in museum s chinese art collection. although piece dates liao dynasty (916–1125 ce), tri-colour glaze of green, amber, , cream, reminiscent of elements tang dynasty sculptures.








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