Five Hundred Arhats No.248 · The Venerable Nītaka (Chinese rendering) | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.248 The Venerable Nītaka (Chinese rendering)

This is a Chinese rendering of an Indic saintly name whose exact Sanskrit original is uncertain (close in form to Nītaka); it is kept objectively without forcing an etymology or inventing a biography. Listed among the five hundred arhats, it signifies converting according to beings and guiding them. The venerable appears as an Indian monk with a gentle look, the painting showing only his calm guidance and kindly leading of beings; the original should be checked against canon and artwork.

Painted by Li Zongyi in the freehand Chinese ink (xieyi) tradition, the brushwork is fluent and the ink tones layered from dense to pale, capturing the arhat’s spirit in a few assured strokes. The blank paper itself breathes Zen; figure and spirit are one, blending monastic solemnity with the literati’s ease. Each of the Five Hundred Arhats bears its own name and practice, uniting faith, art and collectibility — an original, non-reproducible hand-painted work.

Size: approx. 100×50cm (4.5 square chi) | Traditional hand-painted Chinese ink Zen Buddhist figure painting | On paper