A CHINESE CARVED SOAPSTONE SEATED LOHAN. 17th century. The hands resting on the right knee raised from below long flowing robes, the face with bulging eyes and a stern expression, the figure seated beside a small dragon on his left side a pearl clasped in the beast’s front right claw, 9cm H. 十七世紀 壽山石雕降龍羅漢坐像 The colour and style of carving relates closely to a soapstone figure of a monk in the British Museum, illustrated by Soames Jenyns, Chinese Art, 1981, p 209, pl 182. The piece is essential to the dating of soapstone figures of the Kangxi period, as it was recorded as entering the collection of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753) in 1718.