The Sixteen Luohans

Signature:

Inscription: Artist’s inscriptions and signatures

Leaf 1 (1 column in standard script):

瞻葵陳賢寫。

Leaf 2 (1 column in standard script):

陳賢

Leaf 3 (1 column in standard script):

陳賢

Leaf 4 (1 column in standard script):

遊叟陳賢

Leaf 5 (2 columns in standard script):

華山道人薰沐拜寫。陳賢

Leaf 6 (2 columns in standard script):

希三佛事子陳賢畫。

Leaf 7 (1 column in standard script):

陳賢

Leaf 8 (2 columns in semi-cursive script):

仲秋寫安禪深處。陳賢

Leaf 9 (1 column in standard script):

陳賢

Leaf 10 (2 columns in standard script):

半禿僧陳賢和南畫。

Leaf 11 (1 column in standard script):

陳賢秋日拜寫。

Leaf 12 (1 column in semi-cursive script):

陳賢敬寫。

Leaf 13 (1 column in standard script):

太玄賢

Leaf 14 (1 column in semi-cursive script):

陳賢拜寫。

Leaf 15 (2 columns in standard script, dated 1634):

Painted by Chen Xian in the autumn, the tenth lunar month, of the jiaxu year in the Chongzhen reign era (1634).

崇禎嵗次甲戌秋十月，陳賢畫。


Artist’s seals

伯子 [Leaf 1]
希三 [Leaf 1]
佛子陳賢 [Leaf 3, 6]
陳賢 [Leaf 4, 5, 7]
翠漪亭 [Leaf 4]
佛子 [Leaf 7]
陳賢 [Leaf 8, 10, 11, 14]
陳賢之印 [Leaf 9, 12]
希三 [Leaf 10]
太玄 [Leaf 13]
伍玄子 [Leaf 14]
□安□□ [Leaf 11]


Label strip

Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉 (1866–1940), 1 column in clerical script and 2 columns in semi-cursive script, undated; 1 seal:

□賢陳希三羅漢冊
羅振玉審定真跡 [印]：羅振玉印


Colophons (on Leaf 16)

1.Luo Zhenyu 羅振玉 (1866–1940), 7 columns in semi-cursive script, dated 1921; 1 seal:

唐人畫人物、神鬼，至吳道子而臻絕詣，東坡謂畫至吳道子，詩至杜子美，文至韓退之，書至顏魯公，天下之能事盡矣。乃北宋龍眠以後，吳法盡失，米海岳遂以無一筆入吳生，自詡元代以後，更無能法道子者，唯吳文中及陳希三能力追先唐，而陳畫又難得，人間不絕如綫。此冊又陳畫之，尤精者，洵劇跡也。辛酉八月下浣，上虞羅振玉審定真跡並題記。 [印]：羅振玉

2. Wang Guowei 王國維 (1877–1927), 1 column in standard script, dated 1921; 1 seal:

辛酉九月初吉，海寧王國維觀於海上寓居之永觀堂，用誌眼福。[印]：王國維印


Chen Xian’s extant works

In Japan:
1 White robed Guanyin/Kannon scroll at Tokyo National Museum
1 Pear Blossoms and Swallow painting at Kyoto National Museum
2 Guanyin/Kannon scrolls at Sen-oku Hakko kan
1 Guanyin scroll in Yabumoto Collection, Sumitomo Collection and unknown private collection, respectively.
1 Guanyin/Kannon album and 1 Sakyamuni-Guanyin-Chan Patriarchs album dated 1654, Manbukuji Temple/Shoin-do 松隱堂
2 paintings, Shōfuku-ji Temple, Nagasaki

Chan Patriarchs, dated 1643, Freer Gallery (See article by Aschwin Lippe in Ars Orientalis, vol. 5, 1963).
Guanyin/Kannon, Ching Yuan Chai Collection.
Guanyin/Kannon, Dorothy Cahill Collection.
Sakyamuni, British Museum.

Album of Sixteen Luohans, 紺紙金泥,sold by Tokyo Chuo Auction, Mar. 4, 2014 (est. RMB 137,500-192,500/USD 22,216-31,077, a record price for Chen Xian's work).

Guanyin, hanging scroll. Poly Auction Hong Kong, Oct. 6, 2014 (est. HKD 50,000-60,000/USD 6,450-7,740, unsold).


Notes

Yanlin Pan (email message to John Carpenter on 12/12/2014):

Chen Xian immigrated to Japan (as reported by Yamamoto Etsushin) and his paintings were inscribed by Ingen and Mokuan quite often. According to Kyushu museum catalogue, Chen Xian "is known for painting alluring Guanyin and secularized Luohans" and "most of his work are said to bwree brought to Japan by incoming Chinese Obaku masters." (陳賢は明末から清初にかけて福建省泉州地方の黄檗派寺院を中心に活動した画家で、艶めかしい観音や世俗的な羅漢を得意としました。渡来する黄檗高僧を通じてかなりの作品が日本に伝えられています。)

According to Suzuki Kei's catalogue, 3 paintings by Chen Xian are in the U.S.. One "Chan Patriarchs" scroll dated 1643 is in Freer, two "Guanyin/Kannon" scrolls are in Cahill family (1 in Ching Yuan Chai Collection and 1 in Dorothy Cahill Collection). About the Freer's scroll, there is an article by Aschwin Lippe in Ars Orientalis, vol.5, 1963.

Except for 1 Sakyamuni scroll at the British Museum, the rest of Chen Xian's works are in Japan:
1 White robed Guanyin/Kannon scroll at Tokyo National Museum
1 Pear Blossoms and Swallow painting at Kyoto National Museum
2 Guanyin/Kannon scrolls at Sen-oku Hakko kan
1 Guanyin scroll in Yabumoto Collection, Sumitomo Collection and unknown private collection, perspectively.
1 Guanyin/Kannon album and 1 Sakyamuni-Guanyin-Chan Patriarchs album dated 1654, Manbukuji Temple/Shoin-do 松隱堂
2 paintings, Shōfuku-ji Temple, Nagasaki
2 really good ones on the auction market in 2014:
an exquisite 紺紙金泥 album of Sixteen Luohans was sold by Tokyo Chuo Auction, Mar. 4 (est. RMB 137,500-192,500/USD 22,216-31,077) a record price for Chen Xian's work;
a hanging scroll of Guanyin provided by Poly Auction Hong Kong, Oct. 6 (est. HKD 50,000-60,000/USD 6,450-7,740) Unsold.


按：陳賢，生卒年不詳。號希三、瞻葵、半秃僧。喜畫佛像人物，書法似文徵明，曾畫《十六羅漢册》，為日本人購去 。崇禎十六年（1643)嘗作《釋像卷》。

按：此冊只畫十五羅漢，而非十六羅漢，尚缺一開，還是原來就畫十五羅漢？陳賢在明、清畫家中是不顯名的，就是研究畫史者，也不一定都認識他，就畫風來看，很自然，雖風格尚有點俗，但不可說是“傳陳賢”的，應為真跡。（鄭威12/12/2014）

Mrs. Eugene Vidal , Avon, CT (until 1959; donated to MMA)

New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine," August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020.