China: 'The Sixteen Luohans'. Detail (4, middle right) of handscroll painting by Wu Bin (active 1583-1626), 1591. The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Wu Bin (active 1583-1626), nickname Zhiyin Toutuo and social name Wenzhong, was a Chinese painter born in Putian during the Ming Dynasty period, under the reign of the Wanli Emperor. He worked mainly in Nanjing, and was a devout Buddhist, living and working in a Buddhist temple, where he produced hundreds of hanging scrolls depicting arhats and luohans.

Wu Bin worked for Mi Wangzong from around 1600. Mi Wangzong was a high ranking government officer and a painter himself, and with his support, Wu Bin moved to Beijing in 1610, where he produced several masterpieces that caught the eye of the Beijing imperial court. Records of him disappear after 1626, with some sources speculating that the notorious eunuch Wei Zhongxian purged Wu Bin.

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Photographer:

Wu Bin (active 1583-1626)

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Pictures From History