Buddhist Scroll: The Eighteen Luohans
Medium
Handscroll; gold on black paper
Dimensions
10 1/2 x 151 1/4 in. (26.7 x 384.2 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Culture & Period
China · Ming (1368–1644) or Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Anonymous Gift, 1947
Accession Number
47.136.2
Tags
Art Historical Context
Behold the *Buddhist Scroll: Eighteen Luohans*, captivating handscroll from China's Ming (1368–4) or Qing (1644–1911), now housed in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Art collection. Measuring an impressive 10½ x 151¼ inches, painting unfolds like a sacred narrative, rendered in shimmering gold on black paper—a rare and luminous technique that evokes the otherworldly glow of enlightenment against a void-like backdrop. The unidentified artist, sometimes attributed to the renowned Song-dynasty master Li Gonglin, masterfully captures the eighteen Luohans (arhats), Buddha's enlightened disciples re...