An Arhat in the Clouds
16th century
Medium
Framed painting; ink and color on paper
Dimensions
63 × 26 1/2 in. (160 × 67.3 cm) Framed: 66 7/8 × 30 1/2 × 1 1/4 in. (169.9 × 77.5 × 3.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture
China (?)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1919
Accession Number
19.31
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold *An Arhat in the*, a captivating 16th-century framed painting from the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Asian Art collection created with ink and color on paper Measuring an impressive 63 × ½ inches, this vertical hanging scroll likely depicts a lone arhat—a revered Buddhist figure symbolizing enlightenment and spiritual attainment—ethereally suspended amid swirling clouds. The unidentified Chinese (or possibly related) artist captures a sense of transcendence, evoking the arhat's detachment from worldly concerns. In Chinese Buddhist art of the Ming dynasty era, arhats were frequently port...