Head of a Luohan

CultureChinese

DateLiao-Jin dynasty (907-1234)

MediumDry lacquer with traces of gilding and paint

DimensionsOverall: 12 1/4 × 8 × 8 1/4 inches (31.12 × 20.32 × 20.96 cm)

Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust

Object number31-84

On View

Not on view

Collections

East Asian Art

Terms

DescriptionNaturalistic portrait head of a Lohan with shaven head. Slightly bulging brows. Accentuated by deep line. Curved nose. Thin lips, parted in straight line. Fragment of robe remains. Traces of polychrome.Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Philbrook Art Center, Tulsa, OK, 1948.

Art in Asia and the West, San Francisco Museum of Art. October - December 1957.

Buddhist Portraiture, Nara National Museum, Nara, Japan, March - July 1981.

Provenance

Yamanaka & Co.;

Purchased from Yamanaka & Co. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1931.

Published References

Laurence Sickman and Alexander Soper, The Art and Architecture of China, 2d ed., (Baltimore: Penguin Books, 1956, 1960), pl. 82 (repro.).

Art in Asia and the West an Exhibition to Illustrate Varied Aspects of Asian Traditions and Their Importance for Art in the West: Honoring the 6th National Conference of the United States National Commission for Unesco. October 28-December 1, 1957, (San Francisco Museum of Art, October 28- December 1, 1957), no. 141, p. 21, ills (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 191 (repro.).

René Grousset, Chinese Art and Culture, trans. Haakon Chevalier (New York, Orion Press 1959), pl. 41 (repro.).

Capolavori nei Secoli: enciclopedia di tutti le arti, di tutti i popoli, in tutti i, no. 28 (Milano: Fratelli Fabbri, June 2, 1962), 68 (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, George L. McKenna, and Marc F. Wilson, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. II, Art of the Orient. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 42 (repro.).

Editorial, “The Lure of Ancient China” Apollo, special issue for the Asian art collection in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Vol. XCVII, no. 133 (March 1973), 9, pl. 9 (repro.).

Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, Nihon no Bukkyō o kizuita hitobito: sono shōzō to sho, exh. cat., (Nara-shi: Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan, Shōwa 56, 1981), no. 196, p. 199 (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 336, pl. 165 (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.