Five Hundred Arhats No.238 · The Venerable Gandhāra | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.238 The Venerable Gandhāra

Gandhāra (also rendered as the ancient region of Gandhāra, phonetically near to gandharva) was an ancient Indian land, the word also suggesting fragrance pervading many countries; listed among the five hundred arhats, the name is taken as title to signify virtue's fragrance spreading far and a broad field of conversion. The venerable appears as an Indian monk with a far-reaching look; the title is kept objectively without invented deeds, conveying only far-spreading fragrant virtue and wide conversion.

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