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The Sixteen Luohans

dated 1667
Not on view
Shitao, born Zhu Ruoji, a scion of the Ming imperial family, escaped death in his youth by taking refuge in the Buddhist priesthood. In 1662 he became a disciple of the powerful Chan (Zen) master Lü’an Benyue (d. 1676). In the late 1660s and 1670s, while living in seclusion in temples around Xuancheng, Anhui Province, he taught himself to paint.

In The Sixteen Luohans, Shitao’s earliest major extant work, the young painter, then twenty-five, drew what are possibly the most effective figures since the Yuan period (1279–1368). A rare religious subject for Shitao, known for his visionary landscapes, the scroll depicts the sixteen guardian luohans (saints) ordered by the Buddha to live in the mountains and protect the Buddhist law until the coming of the future Buddha.

Stylistically, the immediate sources for Shitao’s figures were late Ming painters, such as Ding Yunpeng (1547–ca. 1621) and Wu Bin (act. ca. 1583–1626). Unlike Wu Bin’s luohans, which seem to be merely grotesque caricatures, Shitao’s are carefully observed, showing such thoroughly human qualities as humor and curiosity.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 清 石濤 (朱若極) 十六羅漢圖 卷
  • Title: The Sixteen Luohans
  • Artist: Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) (Chinese, 1642–1707)
  • Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
  • Date: dated 1667
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Handscroll; ink on paper
  • Dimensions: Image: 18 1/4 in. × 19 ft. 7 3/4 in. (46.4 × 598.8 cm)
    Overall with mounting: 22 5/16 in. × 74 ft. 7 in. (56.7 × 2273.3 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Gift of Douglas Dillon, 1985
  • Object Number: 1985.227.1
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

More Artwork

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(Copy after) The Sixteen Luohans, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese, Handscroll; ink on paper, China
(Copy after) The Sixteen Luohans
Shitao (Zhu Ruoji)
19th–early 20th century
Five poems, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese, Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink on paper, China
Five poems
Shitao (Zhu Ruoji)
ca. 1700
Landscapes of the Four Seasons, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese, Album of eight leaves; ink and color on paper, China
Landscapes of the Four Seasons
Shitao (Zhu Ruoji)
Wilderness Colors, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese, Album of twelve paintings; ink and color on paper, China
Wilderness Colors
Shitao (Zhu Ruoji)
ca. 1700
Landscape, Shitao (Zhu Ruoji) Chinese, Folding fan mounted as an album leaf; ink and color on gold-flecked paper, China
Landscape
Shitao (Zhu Ruoji)
dated 1699

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