An imperially inscribed celadon jade 'luohan' boulder, Ming dynasty, the inscription of the Qianlong period | 明/清乾隆 青玉御製詩雜哩逋荅羅漢坐像

Collection of Bridgadier and Mrs B. C. Lake.

Sotheby's London, 24th March 1964, lot 19.

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997).

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, 1968-present, coll. no. M.4.3.

Bridgadier 及 B. C. Lake 收藏

倫敦蘇富比1964年3月24日，編號19

吳權博士（1910-1997）收藏

吳蓮伯博物院，1968年至今，編號M.4.3

Rose Kerr et al., Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl. 175.

柯玫瑰等，《Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum》，香港，2011年，圖版175

This precious boulder, inscribed with a poem composed by the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-95) and incised with the Emperor’s seals, has an imperial connection that sets it apart from other jade Luohan counterparts. The inscription is included in Qing Gaozong yuzhi shiwen quanji / Anthology of Imperial Qianlong poems and texts, Yuzhi wen er ji (Imperial texts, vol. 2), scroll 44, under the heading of the Fifth Arhat Vajraputra (fig. 1), and can be translated as:

Even with abdomen and chest exposed he had the air of a truly great man. Discursive talk and silence were both alike by him eschewed. What, then, should either confinement or freedom signify to such as he? Though he dwelt within the Sangharama, his sacred influence knew no bounds. Thus one man, like the moon shining in the sky, bestowed enlightenment on myriads (Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol. 23, 1947-8, p. 29).

The same imperial poem was inscribed on a Luohan painting from the Song dynasty (960-1279), impressed with multiple imperial seal marks of the Qianlong Emperor, preserved in the National Palace Museum, Taipei accession no. gu-hua-1901. A discerning connoisseur and collector of art and antiques, the Emperor had works of art in a wide range of media, including paintings, ceramics and jade that caught his attention adorned with inscriptions composed by himself.