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A set of life-size glazed pottery sculptures of luohans usually assigned to the period of the Liao dynasty (907–1125) was discovered in caves at I Chou (I-chou, Yizhou) in Yi xian or Yi County, Hebei (), south of Beijing, before World War I.〔Sickman, 200; Rawson, 159; Art history sources mostly use "Yixian", though "Yi xian" appears more correct.〕 They have been described as "one of the most important groups of ceramic sculpture in the world."〔Gillman Lecture, 3.20〕 They reached the international art market, and were bought for Western collections. At least eight statues were originally found, including one large fragment which was long thought to have been destroyed in Berlin during World War II, but has been sighted in Russia recently. Others are now in the following collections: the British Museum in London, two in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Penn Museum, Philadelphia, Nelson Gallery of Art, Kansas City, the Musée Guimet in Paris, and a Japanese collection. With the example lost in Berlin, this makes a total of ten figures. There are fragments probably from the same set in other collections.〔Sickman, p. 483, note 11 for p. 200; updated to include the Paris example ((Musée Guimet page )〕 The circumstances of the find, and the subsequent events as the figures reached the art market, have been the subject of much scholarly investigation, without being entirely clarified. A luohan (often written luóhàn) is the Chinese term for an arhat, one of the historical disciples of the Buddha. As Buddhist tradition developed, and especially in the East Asian Buddhist countries, the number of arhats or luohans tended to increase, and at least the most important were regarded as, or as almost, bodhisattvas or fully enlightened beings, with a wide range of supernatural powers.〔Rhie and Thurman, 102〕 According to Buddhist tradition, groups of 16, 18 or 500 luohans awaited the arrival of Maitreya, the Future Buddha, and groups were often used in East Asian Buddhist art. The full set is thought by most scholars to have had figures for the typical Chinese main grouping of Sixteen or Eighteen Arhats, although William Watson describes this "usual assumption" as "speculative". These and earlier smaller groupings of six or eight were each given names and personalities in Buddhist tradition.〔Rhie and Thurman, 102–116; Wisdom, 112–114; Steinhardt, 7–8; Gillman, 126; Watson, 123, quoted〕 This set is exceptional in its quality and the individuality of each figure; it has been suggested that they were also portraits of notable contemporary monks. For Watson they are "outstanding examples of the naturalistic pseudo-portrait of the period, displaying to great perfection an idealization of the face", where "only the elongation of the ear-lobes follows (Buddhist ) iconography".〔Watson, 123〕 The green hair of some of the figures is also a departure from naturalism. The findspot in 1912 seems not to have been the original location of the group, which is unknown, and the set of 16 or 18 figures was probably made to be set on platforms along the walls of a "luohan hall" in a temple.〔Steinhardt, 7–8; Gillman, 126; Gillman Lecture, 35:00 – 37:00〕 The openwork bases were intended to suggest mountains; paintings of luohans often show them perched on small peaks, indicating the mountain retreats of the ascetic monk.〔Gillman Lecture, 38:30〕 ==Gallery== File:Luóhàn at British Museum.jpg|British Museum, Seated Luohan from Yixian Image:China luohan arhat sancai glaze.jpg| Yixian luohan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, his head turned sharply to his right Image:LiaoDynastySancaiLuohanCirca1000.jpg|Another at the Metropolitan from the same set, depicting an older monk Image:Penn Museum Luohan.jpg|Penn Museum, his head turning slightly to his right Image:Flickr - dalbera - Statue de l'Arhat Tamrabhadra (musée Guimet).jpg|Musee Guimet, probably Tamrabhadra, cousin of the Buddha File:Nelson Atkins Luohan.jpg|Nelson-Atkins Museum, Kansas City Image:Green Luohan, Southeast Asia Gallery, Royal Ontario Museum, front.jpg|Luohan at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto, with later head Image:Boston Museum of Fine Arts Luohan.jpg|Luohan at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston with restored head 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Yixian glazed pottery luohans」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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