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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.<br/><br/> 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.
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.<br/><br/> 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.
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.<br/><br/> 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.
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.<br/><br/> 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.
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.<br/><br/> 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.
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.<br/><br/> 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.
<i>Luohan</i>, also spelt <i>luhan</i> or <i>Lohan</i>, is the Chinese word for <i>arhat</i>, ascetic and distinguished figures in Buddhism, roughly equivalent to saints. <i>Arhat</i> translates as 'perfected person' or 'one who is worthy', denoting their achievement of nirvana and ascending to a higher state of enlightenment.
In Theravada Buddhism, an arhat is a 'perfected person' who has attained nirvana. In other Buddhist traditions the term has also been used for people far advanced along the path of Enlightenment, but who may not have reached full Buddhahood.
Siyah Kalem or 'Black Pen' is the name given to the 15th century school of painting attributed to Mehmed Siyah Kalem. Nothing is known of his life, but his work indicates that he was of Central Asian Turkic origin, and thoroughly familiar with camp and military life. The paintings appear in the 'Conqueror’s Albums', so named because two portraits of Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror are present in one of them.<br/><br/> The albums are made up of miniatures taken from manuscripts of the 14th, 15th, and early 16th centuries, and one series of paintings is inscribed 'work of Master Muḥammad Siyah Kalem'. Something of the style and techniques of Chinese paintings is apparent in these, and an acquaintance with Buddhist art, particularly in the depictions of grotesque demonic figures.
The Eighteen Arhats ( Shíbā Luóhàn) are individuals depicted in Mahayana Buddhism who have followed the Eightfold Path and attained the Four Stages of Enlightenment, and are also the original followers of the Buddha. They have reached the state of Nirvana and are free of worldly cravings. They are charged to protect the Buddhist faith and to await on earth for the coming of Maitreya, a prophesied enlightened Buddha to arrive on earth many millennia after Gautama Buddha's death and nirvana. In China, the eighteen arhats are also a popular subject of Buddhist art.<br/><br/> Asita is traditionally considered Arhat No.15, the 'long-eyebrowed luohan', eulogised by China's Qianlong Emperor as: ''Compassionate elder, a monk who has attained enlightenment. Perceptive of the infinite universe, with tacit understanding'.
The Eighteen Arhats ( Shíbā Luóhàn) are individuals depicted in Mahayana Buddhism who have followed the Eightfold Path and attained the Four Stages of Enlightenment, and are also the original followers of the Buddha. They have reached the state of Nirvana and are free of worldly cravings. They are charged to protect the Buddhist faith and to await on earth for the coming of Maitreya, a prophesied enlightened Buddha to arrive on earth many millennia after Gautama Buddha's death and nirvana. In China, the eighteen arhats are also a popular subject of Buddhist art.<br/><br/> Kalika is traditionally considered Arhat No. 7, the 'elephant-riding luohan', eulogised by China's Qianlong Emperor as: 'Riding an elephant with a dignified air, Chanting aloud the sutras.<br/><br/> 'With a heart for the humanity, Eyes scanning the four corners of the universe'.
Polo's biographers Yule and Cordier (1923) are doubtful of the identification of the 'Canton Marco Polo', believing the Luohan / arhat effigy is more probably based on a 16th century Portuguese visitor to Guangzhou.<br/><br/> The identification seems to have been accepted by the Museo Correr in Marco Polo's native Venice, however, where a copy of the effigy (shown here) has been on display since 1881.