The Five Hundred Arhats (1591–1626): Art, History and Details

The Five Hundred Arhats (1591–1626) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Wu Bin (Chinese, active c. 1591–1626).

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

More than 66 feet long, this handscroll depicts 447 luohans, 72 attendants, and the bodhisattva of compassion at its very end. Luohans (arhats in Sanskrit), disciples of the Buddha and protectors of the Buddha’s law, possess supernatural powers and take on myriad external appearances. The amusing assortment of characters are engaged in an array of religious, secular, and miraculous activities. The painter used stylistic features borrowed from earlier artists, carefully controlled lines, and refined coloring. Wu Bin was a lay Buddhist and depicting this sort of image was part of a religious practice seeking understanding of the Buddha’s teaching.

Object facts

• Title: The Five Hundred Arhats
• Date: 1591–1626
• Creator attribution: Wu Bin (Chinese, active c. 1591–1626)
• Culture: China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Handscroll; ink and color on paper
• Dimensions: Overall: 39.5 x 2646.5 cm (15 9/16 x 1041 15/16 in.); Painting only: 37.7 x 2347 cm (14 13/16 x 924 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1971.16

A detail from the museum

Far advanced on the path to enlightenment, arhats have the capacity to tame tigers, free dragons, and to float on water or in the air.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Bi dian zhu lin shi ju bao ji xu bian 秘殿珠林石渠寶笈續编. Taibei: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan [National Palace Museum], 1971. (original text dated 1793)
• Chen, Rentao 陳仁濤 [J.D. Chen]. Gu gong yi yi shu hua mu jiao zhu 故宮已佚書畫目校注. Hong Kong: Dongnan shu ju, 1956.
• Cahill, James. The Restless Landscape: Chinese Painting of the Late Ming Period. Berkeley, CA: University Art Museum, 1971.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.