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拍品專文
The present painting, depicting the Buddhist patron, Hvashang, 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 and again during the Qing dynasty in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
The origins of the figure of Hvashang are somewhat unclear. He is not mentioned in any Indian texts, and does not appear in Tibetan art until at least the fifteenth century, when he is depicted alongside images of Buddha Shakyamuni, the disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, the Sixteen Great Arhats, the four Guardian Kings, and the attendant, Dharmatala. After the fifteenth century, Hvashang becomes an established member of this group of twenty five figures, and is only represented in this context. Referred to as the patron of the arhats, the name Hvashang is a Tibetan approximation for the Chinese word for monk, héshàng and perhaps relates to the myth that the Tang emperor, Taizong asked him to invite the Buddha Shakyamuni to teach in China; although the Buddha had already passed away, the Sixteen Great Arhats apparently flew to China and taught the dharma.
In terms of appearance, Hvashang is nearly always represented as a rotund and joyful man, holding a mala and a fruit, with children playing nearby or climbing on him. His depiction closely mirrors that of Budai, a semi-historical Chinese monk who practiced in the tenth century and is considered to be Maitreya Buddha in the Chan Buddhist tradition (and is therefore known colloquially as the ‘Laughing Buddha’ or ‘Fat Buddha’). It is possible Hvashang’s appearance and codification with the larger Sixteen Arhat group was an attempt to synthesize the Taizong myth and the Budai tradition with the Tibetan-style Buddhism that was practiced at the imperial court in the fifteenth century.
The arhat paintings of the early Ming dynasty owe much to the secular tradition of landscape literati painting in China, and break from the earlier Tibetan compositional practice of Buddhist paintings, in which deities and other important figures are set within a regimented and prescribed hierarchy. In most of the arhat painting sets, and as in the present painting, 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 painting sets, figures who represented wisdom and enlightenment, were placed within the tranquil confines of a natural landscape.
The Qing dynasty witnessed a revitalization of the cultural contacts between Tibet and imperial China, and the Manchu ruling class officially patronized Tibetan-style Buddhism in the capital of Beijing. This period also witnessed an explosion in production of Buddhist art, particularly during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796), thanks to innovations such as the printing press (for producing thangkas) and industrial molds (for producing sculptures). Stylistically, painting sets of the Sixteen Great Arhats from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries continued to follow the early Ming style, with arhats set in Chinese-style landscapes; such works had a profound influence on Tibetan painting styles of other subjects as well, particularly that of the Karma Gardri style, which was directly modeled on Yongle arhat paintings.
The present work is a masterful example of an early Qing-period Sixteen Great Arhats group painting. The patron sits within a rich landscape, shaded by the boughs of a pine tree with delicately-rendered pine needles and gnarled, lichen-covered bark. In the middle distance, roiling waters lead the eye to hills dotted with additional pines, and in the distance, tall peaks recede into the mist. The sky is unpainted, leaving the raw silk to evoke the ethereal qualities of the mist, a feature common to Chinese landscape painting.
The present painting is almost certainly from the same set as a painting of Chudapanthaka from the Hahn Kwang-ho collection, illustrated in Art of Tibet: A Catalogue of Special Exhibition, Seoul, 1999, p. 79, no. 55. The decoration of the mat underneath the central figure, with a hem decorated with ruyi motif in red and blue, is almost identical between the two paintings. Compare, also, the green and white clouds at the left of the painting, and the landscape at right with unpainted silk sky, tall, receding mountains, and bunches of pine trees on v-shaped hills.
The origins of the figure of Hvashang are somewhat unclear. He is not mentioned in any Indian texts, and does not appear in Tibetan art until at least the fifteenth century, when he is depicted alongside images of Buddha Shakyamuni, the disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, the Sixteen Great Arhats, the four Guardian Kings, and the attendant, Dharmatala. After the fifteenth century, Hvashang becomes an established member of this group of twenty five figures, and is only represented in this context. Referred to as the patron of the arhats, the name Hvashang is a Tibetan approximation for the Chinese word for monk, héshàng and perhaps relates to the myth that the Tang emperor, Taizong asked him to invite the Buddha Shakyamuni to teach in China; although the Buddha had already passed away, the Sixteen Great Arhats apparently flew to China and taught the dharma.
In terms of appearance, Hvashang is nearly always represented as a rotund and joyful man, holding a mala and a fruit, with children playing nearby or climbing on him. His depiction closely mirrors that of Budai, a semi-historical Chinese monk who practiced in the tenth century and is considered to be Maitreya Buddha in the Chan Buddhist tradition (and is therefore known colloquially as the ‘Laughing Buddha’ or ‘Fat Buddha’). It is possible Hvashang’s appearance and codification with the larger Sixteen Arhat group was an attempt to synthesize the Taizong myth and the Budai tradition with the Tibetan-style Buddhism that was practiced at the imperial court in the fifteenth century.
The arhat paintings of the early Ming dynasty owe much to the secular tradition of landscape literati painting in China, and break from the earlier Tibetan compositional practice of Buddhist paintings, in which deities and other important figures are set within a regimented and prescribed hierarchy. In most of the arhat painting sets, and as in the present painting, 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 painting sets, figures who represented wisdom and enlightenment, were placed within the tranquil confines of a natural landscape.
The Qing dynasty witnessed a revitalization of the cultural contacts between Tibet and imperial China, and the Manchu ruling class officially patronized Tibetan-style Buddhism in the capital of Beijing. This period also witnessed an explosion in production of Buddhist art, particularly during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1735-1796), thanks to innovations such as the printing press (for producing thangkas) and industrial molds (for producing sculptures). Stylistically, painting sets of the Sixteen Great Arhats from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries continued to follow the early Ming style, with arhats set in Chinese-style landscapes; such works had a profound influence on Tibetan painting styles of other subjects as well, particularly that of the Karma Gardri style, which was directly modeled on Yongle arhat paintings.
The present work is a masterful example of an early Qing-period Sixteen Great Arhats group painting. The patron sits within a rich landscape, shaded by the boughs of a pine tree with delicately-rendered pine needles and gnarled, lichen-covered bark. In the middle distance, roiling waters lead the eye to hills dotted with additional pines, and in the distance, tall peaks recede into the mist. The sky is unpainted, leaving the raw silk to evoke the ethereal qualities of the mist, a feature common to Chinese landscape painting.
The present painting is almost certainly from the same set as a painting of Chudapanthaka from the Hahn Kwang-ho collection, illustrated in Art of Tibet: A Catalogue of Special Exhibition, Seoul, 1999, p. 79, no. 55. The decoration of the mat underneath the central figure, with a hem decorated with ruyi motif in red and blue, is almost identical between the two paintings. Compare, also, the green and white clouds at the left of the painting, and the landscape at right with unpainted silk sky, tall, receding mountains, and bunches of pine trees on v-shaped hills.