明 吳彬 十六羅漢圖 卷|The Sixteen Luohans

Wu Bin

dated 1591 · Handscroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

In the Chinese popular imagination, mendicant monks, conjurers, and mysterious hermits were often thought to be disguised “living luohans,” or Buddhist holy men capable of producing miracles. When government corruption and ineptitude imperiled social order, as it did in late Ming times, such superstitious messianic beliefs became more widespread. Here, in one of his earliest extant works, Wu Bin embraced an archaic figure style and followed the tradition of depicting luohans as fantastic eccentrics whose grotesque features belie their inner spiritual nature. Wu’s humorous painting may have had a serious message: holiness can be concealed within an outwardly incongruous form.

Artist

Wu Bin

Date

dated 1591

Medium

Handscroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Edward Elliott Family Collection, Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1986