刺繡羅漢祝福圖冊頁

Vakula is one of the eighteen Luohan or Arhat from the Buddhist pantheon who is often depicted together with a child. He is endowed with exceptional longevity due to the merit he has accumulated in his previous lifetimes. In this instance, the Arhat depicted in the act of blessing the child. A set of eight album leaves closely related to the present example is in the Beijing Palace Collection and illustrated in Embroidered Pictures, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum 52, Hong Kong, 2005, pp. 132-135, fig. 71. A very similar composition dated to the Ming period, illustrated in Textiles and Embroideries of the Ming and Qing Dynasties, The Complete Collection of Treasures of the Palace Museum, Hong Kong, 2005, p. 164, no. 185.