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Two Arhats
Tibetan
18th century
Object Place: Tibet
Medium/Technique
Distemper and gold on cotton
Dimensions
Overall: 63.5 x 45.7cm (25 x 18in.)
Credit Line
Gift of John Goelet
Accession Number67.820
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsAsia
ClassificationsPaintings
DescriptionPainting with no borders, possibly originally in thangka format.
Two large Arhats sit in a wooded setting. Neither figure has been identified. The upper Arhat has dark hair and sits on a bed of leaves. He gestures with one raised hand while the other sits on his lap in dhyana mudra. He is attended by a young attendant carrying a sutra. The lower Arhat sits on a cushion with both hands hidden under his robes. He has gray hair and is attended by a bearded figure who offers a dark bowl-shaped vessel. A Bodhisattva sits in the lower left. In the lower right, a rocky platform supports sacred objects such as a branch of coral. Above, seated in clouds, are three Buddhas, tentatively identified by their hand gestures as Amoghasiddhi, Amitabha, and Vairocana. The landscape elements of the image, though stylized, reveal the influence of Chinese traditions on Tibetan artists. Arhats have always been depicted in rocky and wooded settings, but the spatiousness, naturalism and detail of those landscapes increase over the course of time.
Two large Arhats sit in a wooded setting. Neither figure has been identified. The upper Arhat has dark hair and sits on a bed of leaves. He gestures with one raised hand while the other sits on his lap in dhyana mudra. He is attended by a young attendant carrying a sutra. The lower Arhat sits on a cushion with both hands hidden under his robes. He has gray hair and is attended by a bearded figure who offers a dark bowl-shaped vessel. A Bodhisattva sits in the lower left. In the lower right, a rocky platform supports sacred objects such as a branch of coral. Above, seated in clouds, are three Buddhas, tentatively identified by their hand gestures as Amoghasiddhi, Amitabha, and Vairocana. The landscape elements of the image, though stylized, reveal the influence of Chinese traditions on Tibetan artists. Arhats have always been depicted in rocky and wooded settings, but the spatiousness, naturalism and detail of those landscapes increase over the course of time.
ProvenanceBy 1967, John Goelet, New York, NY; 1967 gift of Goelet to the MFA. (Accession Date: September 13, 1967)