This superb sculpture of lapis lazuli depicts a Buddhist sage meditating in a rocky cave under a craggy tree. The master carver demonstrated his formidable skill by managing to turn the large light gray blotches of the stone into the gnarled tree trunk and the whitish spots into the highlights on the monk’s face.
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Center figure
Artwork Details
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清中期 青金石羅漢山子
Title:Seated luohan (arhat) in a grotto
Period:Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Date:18th–19th century
Culture:China
Medium:Lapis lazuli
Dimensions:H. 7 1/8 in. (18.1 cm); W. 10 in. (25.4 cm)
Classification:Hardstone
Credit Line:Gift of Heber R. Bishop, 1902
Object Number:02.18.917
Heber R. Bishop American, New York (until 1902; donated to MMA)
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Bishop Jades," March 30, 2004–February 12, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The "Hundred Antiques"," February 18–October 31, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Extravagant Display: Chinese Art in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries," December 14, 2010–May 1, 2011.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Colors of the Universe: Chinese Hardstone Carvings," June 16, 2012–January 6, 2013.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Colors of the Universe: Chinese Hardstone Carvings," December 11, 2013–July 6, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection," March 14, 2015–June 19, 2016.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Colors of the Universe: Chinese Hardstone Carvings," June 25, 2016–October 9, 2017.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Streams and Mountains without End: Landscape Traditions of China," August 26, 2017–January 6, 2019.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine," August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection," July 2, 2022–February 17, 2025.
Bishop, Heber R. The Heber R. Bishop Collection of Jade and other Hard Stones. Handbook no. 10. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1909, p. 97.
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