A finely carved soapstone figure of a Lohan China, 17th Century, signed Zhou Bin (Shang Jun)

the milky white stone with red blushes carved with a curly-haired figure seated with both hands clasped around his bent left knee, wearing looped earrings and dressed in loose robes with finely incised floral medallions and hems with scrolling lotus inlaid with coral and mother-of-pearl studs, all upon a rocky base incised with flowers and waves, the underside inscribed with 'di shi zun XXX Shang Jun'

A similar soapstone figure of a luohan, also signed 'Shang Jun' by Zhou Bin, in the National Museum of Chinese History, Beijing, is illustrated in Zhongguo wenwu jinghua daquan: Jin yin yu shi juan, Hong Kong, 1994, p.83, pl.242; and another exhibited by Sydney L. Moss Ltd., In Scholar's Taste, London 1983, cat.no.123, where this type of soapstone carving is discussed.

Zhou Bin was considered one of the finest soapstone carvers of the seventeenth century, discussed by Gerald Tsang & Hugh Moss, The Arts of the Scholar's Studio, Hong Kong, 1986, pp.84-86, where several figures are illustrated. A Zhou Bin figure was sold in our London rooms, 12th November 1974, lot 89, and another from the estate of R.F. Reynolds, Rhode Island, was sold in our New York rooms, 25th February 1983, lot 194. Compare two figures from the same luohan series as the present example, in our Hong Kong rooms, 25th April 2004, lots 33 & 34.