Footnotes

• Little is known about the wangyun mark, as no written references can be found in traditional Chinese bamboo connoisseurship. The only known dated example with the same mark from the Qing court collection, preserved in the Palace Museum, Beijing, a carved bamboo cup in the shape of a lotus leaf, dated by inscription to 1580, is illustrated in The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum. Bamboo, Wood, Ivory and Rhinoceros, Hong Kong, 2002, p.9, pl.8, where it is stated that Wang Yun was a bamboo carver who was active during the late Ming period. The bamboo cup is also carved with the name of a famous Zhejiang collector of the Ming dynasty, Xiang Yuanbian, who went by the alias Molin Shanren. However, the distinct style and carving techniques represented by current the example may suggest this to be an apocryphal mark used by artists of a later period, who were inspired by his work.
  
  清乾隆 竹雕羅漢坐像 「望雲」款
  
  取竹子地下莖圓雕羅漢坐像。羅漢高額濃眉，頭部微斜，雙唇微張，咧嘴而笑，肩系圍巾，長袍濶袖，系於腰間，袒胸露背，左手手捧一盤，盤內松針尖堆，右手曲向面頰，四指捏松針一束，輕觸下顎，喜笑顏開，自享其樂。羅漢雙腳著草鞋，翹腿而坐於壽石之上，壽石棱角分明，石縫中草葉叢生，石上刻一「望雲」陽文篆書印。
  
  此羅漢採用圓雕、高浮雕及透雕等多種技法雕琢，刀工渾厚精煉，羅漢坦露手臂肌肉線條及背部脊骨均以熟練刀法雕刻而出，細緻刻畫之中略帶古拙與樸實，羅漢面部表情亦是刻畫得栩栩如生。
  
  嚴望雲，浙江人，生卒不詳，亦不見有所著錄，北京故宮博物院藏一件明晚期竹雕荷葉杯，進底處亦刻一「望雲」陽文篆書印，並刻題詩以及「萬曆庚辰（1580年）秋日墨林山人」款」，或為明代浙江收藏家項元汴收藏，見李久芳編，《故宮博物院藏文物珍品全集：竹木牙角雕刻》，香港，2002年，頁9，圖版8。根據其杯雕刻風格及所題款識觀察，故宮博物院將望雲定為明代晚期竹刻家。此竹雕羅漢坐像雕刻工藝於北京故宮博物院藏這件竹雕荷葉杯風格迥異，當係後人所作寄託款。