Five Hundred Arhats No.285 · The Venerable Fragrant-Gold Hands | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.285 The Venerable Fragrant-Gold Hands

'Fragrant-gold hands' means hands warm and smooth as fragrant gold, wondrously adorned, the golden hands signifying pure bodily action, every deed excellent, also a figure for receiving beings with soft, wondrous hands; the name marks one whose hands are adorned, fragrant and pure as gold. The venerable lowers or extends a hand with a warm look, possessing the warmth of hands like fragrant gold, pure bodily action, soft reception, benefiting beings through wondrous hands.

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