Beschreibung:

A RARE AND FINE SPINACH-GREEN JADE CARVED 'EIGHT LUOHANS' TABLE SCREENQianlong/Jiaqing Of rectangular form, crisply carved to one side with eight Luohans at leisure in a rocky grotto, each with their respective attribute, the reverse with gilt inscriptions identifying the name of each Luohan and a description, the stone of dark green tone suffused with faint cloudy inclusions, all within a border decorated with striding dragons and wispy clouds, two seal marks reading bide ('compare yourself to jade') and langrun ('bright and lustrous'), with a later lacquered wood stand. 28cm (11in) high (2).Footnotes清乾隆/嘉慶 碧玉雕羅漢圖硯屏 「比德」、「朗潤」印 Provenance: William Clayton Ltd., London, 1 November 1977 James Basil Wilson and Julia Wilson, and thence by descent In 1945, James Basil Wilson returned from The Second World War having served with the Gurkhas. He married Julia Burke in 1949 and they moved to London. James started working for Iron and Steel Exporters and later that year, he was offered the chance to set up an office Hong Kong, so they moved there and set up home. The business was successful, they loved Hong Kong and they lived the life of ex-patriates to the full. They swam, played golf, made friends and indulged their passion for fast cars, competing in amateur road races. Julia claimed to have won at the first Macau Grand Prix. As well as enjoying the pastimes of the culture they brought with them, they developed an enduring love for China, Chinese people, Chinese food and Chinese art. With a growing family, they returned to England in 1957. They brought with them the pieces they had bought in Hong Kong and James made many trips to Hong Kong and continued to build their collection throughout the following decades mainly from dealers in London. 來源：倫敦古董商William Clayton Ltd.，1977年11月1日 James Basil Wilson與Julia Wilson伉儷舊藏，並由後人保存迄今 James Basil Wilson二戰期間曾於廓爾喀軍團服役，1945年返回英國。 1949年與Julia Burke結婚，婚後搬至倫敦，並開始為Iron and Steel Exporters效力，同年被委任籌備香港辦事處，遂移居香港。事業發展蒸蒸日上的同時，Wilson伉儷也充分享受著外派人士的理想生活；游泳、打高爾夫、結交朋友，沉迷賽車運動甚至參加業餘車手街道賽，Julia聲稱曾完賽首屆澳門格蘭披治大賽車。在保留西方生活方式的同時，Wilson伉儷也對中國及其民眾、美食和藝術產生了長久的熱情。 1957年，隨著家庭的不斷壯大，Wilson一家回到英國，並帶回了其在香港購置的藝術品。此後，James多次前往香港，並在接下來的幾十年中持續造訪倫敦的古董商，擴充藏品。 The present screen is superbly carved with eight Luohans, including Bakula, Rāhula, Cūdapanthaka, Pinola Bhāradvāja, Panthaka, Nāgasena, Gopaka, and Abheda. The screen would have been part of a pair of screens making a total of sixteen luohans. Luohans, known as 'Guardians of the Buddhist law', became popular in China in the 7th century, and their numbers varied, from sixteen to eighteen. They are extremely rare, and few published examples have been found. See one very similar example of a jade screen with luohans, 18th century, illustrated by G.Wills, Jade of the East, New York, Tokyo, Hong Kong, 1972, p.105. In 1757 the Qianlong emperor visited the Shengyin temple in present-day Hangzhou, to personally inspect the Luohan paintings by Guanxiu made in 891 AD. The emperor was deeply moved by the paintings and wrote a poem for each of the Luohans depicted in the paintings. He then instructed the Court artist Ding Guanpeng to create copies of Guanxiu's Luohans, which the emperor inscribed. In the following decades the Qianlong emperor had artisans reproduce the images in a variety of materials including jade, and the present screen is one such testament to the emperor's personal devotion. Luohan images appeared repeatedly through the emperor's garden in the Ningshougong in the Forbidden City and particularly in Yanghe, Jingshe and Yunguanlou, depicted in paintings, kesi screens and jade; see for example a zitan, lacquer jade and gilt-decorated sixteen-leaf screen, Qianlong, in the Yunguanglou, illustrated by N.Berliner, The emperor's Private Paradise: Treasures from the Forbidden City, New Haven, 2010, pp.164-171; see also a green jade set of the Eighteen Luohans, Qing dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, illustrated in Compendium of Collections in the Palace Museum: Jade 8 Qing