宋 / 元 木雕彩塑目連尊者坐像

wearing kasaya comprised of outer and inner robes with voluminous folds that drape elegantly around the outstretched hands and over the knees and down around the shoes, the monk's head well-carved with eyes downcast, wearing a serene and contemplative expression, the figure resting squarely on an elaborate rockwork throne, all with traces of polychrome and intricate gesso design

Yamanaka and Co.，京都，1923年
Theodore Pitcairn 牧師（1893-1973年）收藏，費城，自此家族收藏

借予 the Philadelphia Museum of Art，費城，賓夕法尼亞州，出展

The sculpture has extensive flaking and detached paint with several areas of loss. Much of the remaining pigment is worn and yellowed due to some sort of applied protective coating that has discolored. There are areas of filled repair and one index finger has been reattached. The area around the base has several splits.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

While traveling on missionary work in Asia in 1922, Theodore Pitcairn, son of John Pitcairn (1841-1916) the founder of the very famous and successful Pittsburgh Plate Glass Company, was able to acquire through the famed Yamanaka Gallery, two wood sculptures of luohan belonging originally to a larger set of sixteen or eighteen figures.  The present example which still retains its original 'rockwork' base remained in the family collection, the other was sold in 1944 to Jan Kleijkamp and Ellis Monroe, New York, and illustrated in their name in Alfred Salmony, Chinese Sculpture, Han to Sung, 1944, pl. XXVIII where the author notes that the sculpture had been previously published while in the Pitcairn collection in Osvald Siren, History of Chinese Art, London, 1930, vol. III, pl. 122. This figure is currently in the Santa Barbara Museum and illustrated in Santa Barbara Museum of Art Selected Works, Santa Barbara, 1991, pp. 94-5, no. 119 as a gift of Ina T. Campbell.

Theodore Pitcairn refers directly to the present sculpture in a letter written to his brother Raymond in 1922. He begins with the comment, "I spent nearly the whole of Thursday with Mr. Yamanaka and managed to spend over $21,000" He then describes his purchases and concludes rather boldly, "I believe in the matter of sculpture, I have a finer Chinese collection although smaller than any Museum in America." He writes of the present sculpture, "While the wooden figure is much earlier and more primitive than the famous Boston wood figure and is not like it decked in brilliant colors, I am sure that you will feel that it belongs to a higher plane of art and will like it better. I was told that the Boston Museum paid $50,000 for it.  I feel quite sure I would not exchange." The Boston Museum of Fine Art's superb wood, polychrome and gilt sculpture of Guanyin, dated to the Jin Dynasty, was acquired for exactly that amount in 1920 from Yamanaka and is illustrated in Jan Fontein and Pratapaditya Pal, Museum of Fine Arts Boston Oriental Art, Greenwich, Connecticut, 1969, no. 64.

A related wood and gesso carving of a monk of similar size was sold in these room 31st March 2005, lot 96 and a smaller example of a seated figure was also sold in these room 22nd March 2011, lot 268. A group of seventeen arhat of smaller size and less refined quality is illustrated in The Splendour of Buddhist Statuaries, Chinese Buddhist Wooden Sculpture from Sung to Yuan Dynasties, National Museum of History, Taipei 1997, pp. 64-99.