China, 960-1368. Finely carved seated in ardha padmasana on a pedestal covered by a pleated cloth and raised on a flat base, wearing loose-fitting robes falling in elegant folds, secured by a ring clasp over his left shoulder. The face is set in a deeply contemplative gaze with heavily lidded eyes. The reverse with a large oval aperture. The dark brown wood of an attractive dark color and striated grain.

Provenance: A noted American private collection. Midori Gallery, Miami, Florida, United States, acquired from the above. The Midori Gallery was opened by Sachi Wagner and her husband in 1971 and has been a celebrated source of antique Asian cultural artifacts for over half a century. In the beginning it was used as a bookstore specializing in East Asian culture, art, and philosophy, but slowly developed into an antique shop focusing on Far Eastern works of art. Sachi Wagner is an authority in Asian antiques with more than 50 years of experience, specializing in China and Japan with elements of Korea, Tibet, India, and Southeast Asia. She has garnered a premier collection of paintings and screens, textiles, porcelain and archaic ceramics, sculpture, furniture, netsuke, folk art, and other artifacts.
Condition: Good condition with old wear, natural age cracks, signs of weathering and erosion, few minor signs of insect activity, few small old repairs and minor touchups, nicks, scratches, minor losses.

Weight: 7.3 kg
Dimensions: Height 54.4 cm

Images of luohan, the enlightened followers of the Buddha, became exceedingly popular in China from the Tang period onwards. Because they were often depicted in groups of at least 16, artists began to imbue the different luohan with individualized or distinguishing characteristics of their spiritual states. The portrait-like depictions found in many sculptures of luohan executed in various media from the Song dynasty onwards suggest that some of these depictions may have been portraits of actual monks. In the present case, the subject has been previously identified as Amoghavajra (705-774), in Chinese known as Bukong, who was a prolific translator and became one of the most politically powerful Buddhist monks in Chinese history and is acknowledged as one of the Eight Patriarchs of the Doctrine in Shingon Buddhism.

Literature comparison:
For a Northern Song dynasty dry lacquer figure of a luohan of closely related modelling and seated position, in the Honolulu Academy of Arts, dated to 1100, see Saburo Matsubara, Chungoku Bukkyo Chokukushi Ron (The Path of Chinese Buddhist Sculpture), Tokyo, 1995, pp. 832-3.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 4 April 2016, lot 2875
Estimate: HKD 600,000 or approx. EUR 81,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare large carved wood figure of a luohan, Song-Yuan dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of carving.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Christie’s New York, 22 March 1999, lot 163
Price: USD 23,000 or approx. EUR 40,000 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A rare lacquered wood figure of a luohan, Song dynasty
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of carving. Note the size (64 cm).