Note: The sensitive rendering of the luohan's expressive countenance is particularly finely rendered on this superbly carved head, impressive and unusual for the three-quarter depiction, with the head slightly tilted forward as if in deep contemplation. Its distinctive facial features, specifically the high cheekbones, prominent nose and wrinkled forehead indicate that this luohan is elderly, and appears to represent Kasyapa, who was one of Sakyamuni Buddha's ten principal disciples. Kasyapa came from the kingdom of Magadha and by the time he met Buddha, was already well into his eighties. He was a renowned ascetic and had a large following of his own.

In the Chan Buddhist tradition, Kasyapa is considered the first Indian patriarch and Ananda, the second. They are often portrayed together on either side of Buddha. This arrangement is commonly found in caves in China dating from the Northern Wei dynasty (386-535), with Ananda to Buddha's right and Kasyapa to the left, as seen in the Central Binyang Cave at Longmen, illustrated in Angela Falco Howard, Li Song, Wu Hung and Yang Hong, Chinese Sculpture, New Haven, 2006, p. 238, fig. 3.39. This standard iconographic arrangement continued through the Sui, Tang, Liao and Song periods, all the way to the Ming dynasty.

Other examples of Song dynasty luohan are illustrated in Osvald Siren, A History of Early Chinese Art, Sculpture, London, 1930, pl. 115A. For a closely related limestone head of a luohan, similarly carved with a prominent forehead and wrinkled forehead, see the example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession number 60.74. For an example sold at auction, see the luohan head from the collection of J.T. Tai & Co., sold in our New York rooms, 22nd March 2011, lot 270.

Sotheby's. Literati / Curiosity II, Hong Kong, 05 Apr 2016