AN EXTREMELY RARE AND MAGNIFICENT PAIR OF GILT-BRONZE INSET HONGMU 'LUOHAN' PANELS QING DYNASTY, QIANLONG PERIOD

each rectangular panel deftly carved in varying depths of high relief with a vertical landscape composed of mountainous peaks, rocky outcrops and islets connected by bridges and dotted with pine, wutong and pavilions, all on a ground of incised waves, each panel detailed and inset in gilt-bronze with eight of the sixteen luohan positioned across the landscape, the lively figures depicted with their respective attributes, and further identified in the imperially inscribed poem above titled Ding Guanpeng copying Guanxiu sixteen luohan painting, followed by descriptive lines for each luohan, the hongmu frames applied with gilt-bronze lotus sprays to the corners and along the edges, and mounted with gilt-bronze kuilong-form handles (2)
49 1/4 by 30 1/8 in., 125 by 76.5 cm

Provenance:
Collection of A.W. Bahr (1877-1959).
American Art Association, 17th-19th January 1916, lot 500.
Collection of William Cobbett Skinner (1857-1947), and thence by descent.