88,4 x 31 cm Condition Xu Jiping (1918-?), The Luohan Jifu Catching Bats, China, dated 1948. Hanging scroll, ink and colours on paper. Inscription and signature by the artist: "Jifu collecting luck. In early winter in the wuzi year (1948) painted by Xu Jiping in Shanghai." Two seals of the artist: "Jiping", "Jiping hua". The Luohan Jifu (also: Zengfu) is catching red bats in a large jar. The Chinese word meaning 'bat' is a homonym with 'luck'. 'Jifu' means ' 'increasing luck'.′Xu Jiping, from Shanghai, was especially adept as a figure painter and active as a professional painter of calendar posters in Shanghai during the 1930s and 1940s. After 1949, he designed New Year's images for the publishing houses Shanghai Huapian She and Shanghai Renmin Meishu Chubanshe.-Acquired at Klefisch, Cologne, 2nd Dec 1982, auction 23, no. 210-Minor restorations, very minor damage due to age