1 / 3

46 - JAPAN – Edo period (1603–1868), 19th century
See original version (French)

Estimate €2,000 - €3,000

Description

JAPAN – Edo period (1603–1868), 19th century A pair of six-panel folding screens, ink on paper, each panel depicting a luohan (rakan) seated in a landscape and accompanied by his attribute. (Damage, losses, restoration, stains). H. 169 cm. Width of one panel 63 cm These paintings were based on a collection of sixteen works attributed to the Buddhist monk Guanxiu (832–912). The depictions of luohan (Jap. rakan, Sansk. arhat) with their extravagant and caricatured features, developed by Guanxiu, have left a profound mark on the history of Chinese painting, inspiring several generations of artists to depict these figures as exotic, extraordinary beings endowed with superhuman qualities. Emperor Qianlong is said to have discovered, in a monastery in Hangzhou, a collection of paintings which he regarded as Guanxiu’s original works. He then commissioned copies to be carved in stone, from which prints were subsequently produced. The complete set of sixteen prints is now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (no. 59.195.16) The Japanese copyist Yamana Gikei (1865–?) took part on several occasions in official campaigns to preserve and reproduce ancient paintings and pictorial scrolls, carried out notably under the auspices of imperial institutions, including the Imperial Museum, now the Tokyo National Museum. Another set of sixteen paintings based on *Guanxiu* by Yamana Gikei is held in the collections of the Tokyo National Museum (A-5085).

See original version (French)

Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.

About the sale CLASSICAL ART, Asian collection, antique paintings & works of art

Auction location

Auction time 11/04/2026 at 2:00 PM

Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House

46 - JAPAN – Edo period (1603–1868), 19th century See original version (French)

46 - JAPAN – Edo period (1603–1868), 19th century
See original version (French)