figure (ritual & belief: representations)

Carved and painted figure of seated luohan, or dicsiple of the historical Buddha, baring his chest, in which the ribs are prominent. He wears a bead necklace and his chin and upper lip are covered in holes where real hair might have been added. He is entirely painted in gold and the rock he sits on dark green.

Part of The Louise Tythacott Collection . The Louise Tythacott Collection was compiled as the result of intensive fieldwork over several years in South China and Hong Kong. Ms Tythacott is a Chinese-speaking anthropologist and a museum curator, and was Curator of Ethnography at Liverpool Museum, who was particularly fortunate in developing contacts during the course of her work. Ms Tythacott has also made collections for the Museum of Mankind.

Collection Information

These objects are only a part of our collections, of which there are more than 350,000 objects. This information comes from our collections database. Some of this is incomplete and there may be errors. This part of the website is also still under construction, so there may be some fields repeated or incorrectly formatted information.

The database retains language taken from historical documents to help research. Please note that some records may feature language and reflect systems of thinking that are outdated and offensive. The database also includes information on objects that are considered secret or sacred by some communities.

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