PaintingsKorean18th-19th century

Nahan (Chinese, Luohan) Riding a Spotted White Deer in a Landscape While Assisted by an Elderly Male Attendant

18th-early 19th century

Description

This painting is mounted and framed as a discrete album leaf. Done in ink and colors on paper, the painting, which might originally have been mounted as a hanging scroll, presumably came from a larger set of multiples, each representing an arhat (Korean: nahan; Chinese: luohan) -- saintly, enlightened beings who protect the Buddhist faith. This painting depicts an arhat sitting on the back of a spotted white deer in the center of the composition. The arhat's grayish blue monk’s robe sports modest decoration painted in gold; his patchwork cape boasts squares of red fabric embellished with gold designs within black borders. At the right edge of the composition stands an attendant dressed in a red robe, a large hat made of spotted bamboo hangs from a string around the attendant's neck and rests at the middle of his back. The two figures appear in a confined landscape of the archaistic blue-and-green type. Sprigs of bamboo crown the tall rock that rises at the left edge, while a plant with orange blossoms grows at its base. A banana plant and stylized flowers decorate the faceted rock that borders the right edge. A rippling stream crosses the center of the composition, separating the even-toned green foreground from the distant background.

Classification

Paintings

Medium

Section of a hanging scroll mounted on a panel and framed; ink and colors on paper

Culture

Korean

Period

Chosŏn dynasty, 1392-1910

Century

18th-19th century

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Department

Department of Asian Art

Dimensions

painting proper: H. 49.8 x W. 46 cm (19 5/8 x 18 1/8 in.) frame: H. 71.8 x W. 61 cm (28 1/4 x 24 in.)

Provenance

John M. Lyden, New York, (1965-1987). [Kang Collection, New York (by 1995)], sold; Ralph C Marcove, New York (1995-2001), inherited; by Christina J. Marcove, New York (2001-2015), gift; to the Harvard Art Museums.