A gilt-bronze figure of Nakula, Ming dynasty | 明 銅鎏金靜坐羅漢像

Collection of C.A. Wagner.

C. A. Wagner 收藏

The mongoose by the present figure's foot confirms its identity as the Fifth Luohan Nakula, whose name translates to 'mongoose bearer'. Nakula was a warrior who converted to Buddhism at the age of 120. As it was unusual for observers to see a strong, muscular fighter meditating, Nakula was nicknamed the 'Meditating Luohan', a term which corresponds closely to his Chinese name 'Jingzuo Luohan'. The luohan is often depicted meditating using a rosary, teaching a young boy, or with a three-legged toad. Here, perhaps in an attempt to reinforce the iconography of Nakula, the artisan has endowed the mongoose with a toad-like face.

In this rendition, Nakula is depicted as an ascetic monk with an emaciated frame revealing protruding ribs and bulging veins, a shaved head with pronounced cheekbones, and a blissful expression. The tradition of depicting luohan in this exaggerated, contorted manner stems from the late Tang / Five Dynasties monk and painter Guanxiu (823-912). In Guanxiu's influential series of luohan paintings, the disciples are depicted with twisted bodies, hunched backs, bushy eyebrows, and pronounced foreheads as they had allegedly appeared to him in a dream, their grotesque appearance belying their inner spirituality. His representations captivated artists for generations to come, establishing the tradition of rendering luohan in this manner. For a late Ming homage to Guanxiu, see a painting of the Fifth Luohan by the painter Wu Bin (active c. 1583-1626) in the National Palace Museum, Taipei (accession no. 故畫00227300000). Compare also Wu Bin's painting The Sixteen Luohans, dated 1591, in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (accession no. 1986.266.4)

A closely related gilt-bronze figure of a luohan, cast in a very similar style and probably from the same set as the present piece, is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London (accession no. A.7-1967) and illustrated in Rose Kerr, Later Chinese Bronzes, London, 1990, pl. 71. For a Ming dynasty cast-iron figure of Nakula holding a mongoose, dated to 1477, see one sold in our London rooms, 7th November 2007, lot 261. 

This gilt-bronze figure was formerly in the collection of C.A. Wagner, who worked at the East Asiatic Company starting in 1927 and was stationed in Shanghai. The company was founded in Copenhagen in 1897 and quickly became the largest company in Denmark, focusing on shipping and trade with Southeast Asia. 

The dating of this lot is consistent with the results of a thermoluminescence test, Oxford Authentication Ltd., sample no. C122c51.