Vase with Buddhist figures

China

Not on view

By the seventeenth century, traditional Buddhist themes were common both in literati paintings and in the decorative arts. The holy men depicted here are arhats (luohans), Buddha’s disciples. One tussles with a snarling tiger, another calls a roaring dragon, and the third has a cane and a straw hat. Probably copied from a woodblock print, these figures represent stock figures rather than specific individuals.

Vase with Buddhist figures, Porcelain with raised decoration, painted in underglaze cobalt blue and copper red (Jingdezhen ware), China

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