Monks in Glaze: Patronage, Kiln Origin, and Iconography of the Yixian Luohans

Monks in Glaze is a complete reassessment of the famous group of large glazed ceramic sculptures known as the Yixian Luohans. Drawing upon hitherto-unknown epigraphic documents, Eileen Hsiang-ling Hsu proposes a new date (1511 1519) for the group s production and, for the first time, identifies the kiln centre near Beijing as its birthplace. Removed more than one hundred years ago from a massive grotto in northern China, the group s provenance disappeared after its dispersal between 1913 and 1933. Delving into the social and economic issues of religious patronage, imperial workshop practice, and nuanced style of post-Yuan Buddhist art, Hsu convincingly shows that such a large group of masterworks were products of well-developed commercial economy of the Ming dynasty."