著录:出版 Himalayan Art Resources, item no. 24896. 拍品描述:The present painting, depicting the Buddhist patron, Hvashang, set within a verdant landscape and accompanied by attendant figures, is part of a tradition of arhat painting sets with origins in both early Tibetan and Chinese Buddhism, and which achieved an extraordinary degree of syncretism between the two cultures in the early fifteenth century and again during the Qing dynasty in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The origins of the figure of Hvashang are somewhat unclear. He is not mentioned in any Indian texts, and does not appear in Tibetan art until at least the fifteenth century, when he is depicted alongside images of Buddha Shakyamuni, the disciples Shariputra and Maudgalyayana, the Sixteen Great Arhats, the four Guardian Kings, and the attendant, Dharmatala. After the fifteenth century, Hvashang becomes an established member of this group of twenty five figures, and is only represented in this context. Referred to as the patron of the arhats, the name Hvashang is a Tibetan approximation for the Chinese word for monk, héshàng and perhaps relates to the myth that the Tang emperor, Taizong asked him to invite the Buddha Shakyamuni to teach in China; although the Buddha had already passed away, the Sixteen Great Arhats apparently flew to China and taught the dharma. In terms of appearance, Hvashang is nearly always represented as a rotund and joyful man, holding a mala and a fruit, with children playing nearby or climbing on him. His depiction closely mirrors that of Budai, a semi-historical Chinese monk who practiced in the tenth century and is considered to be Maitreya Buddha in the Chan Buddhist tradition (and is therefore known colloquially as the ‘Laughing Buddha’ or ‘Fat Buddha’). It is possible Hvashang’s appearance and codification with the larger Sixteen Arhat group was an attempt to synthesize the Taizong myth and the Budai tradition with the Tibetan-style Buddhism that was practiced at the imperial court in the fifteenth century.