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The Sixteen Luohans

Wu Bin Chinese
dated 1591
Not on view
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 明 吳彬 十六羅漢圖 卷
  • Title: The Sixteen Luohans
  • Artist: Wu Bin (active ca. 1583–1626)
  • Period: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
  • Date: dated 1591
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 12 5/8 x 163 9/16 in. (32.1 x 415.4 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 13 1/4 x 398 1/16 in. (33.7 x 1011.1 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Edward Elliott Family Collection, Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1986
  • Object Number: 1986.266.4
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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7318. The Sixteen Luohans

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