清早期 壽山石雕捧桃羅漢|Buddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peach

Unknown

17th century · Soapstone · Asian Art

Although they are referenced in Indian sources, luohans (Sanskrit: arhat), or Buddhist disciples, are not represented in the visual arts of the subcontinent. Based on the disciples of the Historical Buddha, this group of sixteen figures was first depicted in China in the tenth century. By the sixteenth century, luohans had become an important motif in secular painting and the decorative arts, where they are understood as exemplars of a cultivated, but renunciatory, lifestyle.

Artist

Unknown

Date

17th century

Medium

Soapstone

Culture

China

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 2013