Arhat (Panthaka)

Object Details

• Artist

  Ryozen (ca. 1328-ca. 1360)

• Label

  This painting (from a set of sixteen) depicts arhats, sages who have reached enlightenment through the teachings of the Historical Buddha Shakyamuni. Their facial expressions reflect their superior wisdom and the intensity of their vow to protect the Buddhist law (dharma) after Shakyamuni's death. At ceremonies held regularly in some Buddhist temples on the fifteenth day of every month, a set of paintings representing each of the sixteen principal arhats is displayed with a central sculpture or painting of Shakyamuni. This hanging scroll comes from a set that once belonged to the Sanshogokokuzenji, a sub temple of the Tofukuji, a major Zen Buddhist monastery in Kyoto.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Masters of Mercy: Buddha's Amazing Disciples (March 10 to July 8, 2012)

  Religious Art of Japan (December 18, 2002 to January 4, 2015)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)

  Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)

  Japanese Art (March 12, 1982 to November 3, 1986)

  Japanese Art (February 15, 1981 to March 3, 1981)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1300s

• Name

  Ryozen

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Japanese Art, Caves, Nanbokucho period (1333 - 1392), Chuda-Panthaka

• Culture

  Buddhists, Arhats, Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings