TIBET, 17TH-18TH CENTURY

The present painting, depicting the arhats Kalika holding two golden rings and Vajriputra sat below a dragon, set within a verdant landscape and accompanied by attendant figures, is part of a tradition of arhat painting sets with origins in both early Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism, and which achieved an extraordinary degree of syncretism between the two cultures in the early fifteenth century. Arhats (Chinese: luohan) were the original followers of the Buddha, or important monks who lived in the years following the Buddha’s death and helped to transmit his teachings, although there is little historical record for their actual existence (with the exception of Rahula, the Buddha’s son). Over time, it became canon for the arhats to be represented as a group of sixteen alongside the Buddha Shakyamuni, the attendant, Dharmatala, the patron, Hvashang, and the Four Guardian Kings. The concept of the sixteen arhats is believed to have entered Tibet with Atisha (982-1054 CE), and was known in China as early as the Tang dynasty, when the Buddhist monk and painter, Guanxiu (832-912 CE) painted a well-known set of arhat paintings.
The Chinese and Tibetan representations of arhats remained stylistically, and to a lesser degree, iconographically distinct from one another until the early Ming dynasty, when the socio-political upheavals following the end of the Mongol Yuan dynasty brought the Tibetan and Ming Chinese realms ever closer together. The style of arhat paintings that evolved in this period owes much to the secular tradition of landscape literati painting in China, and breaks from the contemporaneous Tibetan compositional practice of Buddhist paintings, in which deities and other important figures are set within a regimented and prescribed hierarchy. In the earliest-known Yongle-period arhat paintings, the main figures are set within lush landscapes, surrounded by craggy mountains, curving pine boughs, and flowing streams. In the tradition of Chinese literati paintings, nature and country life was seen as an escape from the intrigues of the court, a place where scholars could find the peace needed to write poetry, perform music, and develop ideas. It is no coincidence that the arhats of these early Yongle paintings, figures who represented wisdom and enlightenment, were placed within the tranquil confines of a natural landscape.
In contrast to earlier Tibetan paintings, in which nearly all figures are depicted frontally, the arhats of these Yongle paintings are shown in various poses, some in three-quarter profiles. In appearance, the arhats are depicted either as youthful and idealized, with Chinese facial features, or as stereotypes of Indian figures, with dark skin and wizened visages. In most cases, the arhats are accompanied by diminutive attendant figures, who present tribute or hold iconographic identifying attributes; this hierarchy of size between the important figures and their attendant figures was also prevalent in earlier Chinese literati paintings.
The present painting, while dated from the seventeenth or eighteenth century, is ultimately derived from the early Yongle sets of arhat paintings. The influences of these early paintings can be found in the depiction of the landscape, particularly the blue and green rockwork in the lower left corner, as well as in the verdant grouping of bamboo and wide-leafed plants behind Kalika at left; and the diminutive attendants with backs turned to the viewer, as similarly found in Yongle-period arhat paintings. The yellow-hat lama in the top right corner helps identify this as belonging to a Gelug tradition, and indicates that this work dates from the seventeenth or eighteenth century.