Five Hundred Arhats No.418 · The Venerable Beyond All Compare | Traditional Hand-Painted Chinese Ink Zen Buddhist Figure Painting | 100×50cm

Five Hundred Arhats · No.418 The Venerable Beyond All Compare

'Beyond all compare' means transcending the classes of ordinary and saintly, far beyond the usual, supremely excellent in all worlds, not measurable by common categories; the name marks one beyond conception and view, utterly beyond peers. The venerable has a singularly lofty presence and a transcendent look, possessing the eminence of transcending classes, far beyond the usual, beyond ordinary and saintly views, going straight to supreme bodhi with a transcendent heart.

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