![Luohan Laundering, by Lin Tinggui, 1178 AD](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/56/Luohan_Laundering%2C_by_Lin_Tinggui%2C_1178_AD.jpg)
Lin Tinggui (; fl. circa 1174–1189) (
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
: Rin Teikei) was a
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity
**''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation
** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...
painter
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ai ...
of the
Southern Song Dynasty
The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...
(1127–1279 AD). His artwork was greatly influenced by themes of
Chinese Buddhism
Chinese Buddhism or Han Buddhism ( zh, s=汉传佛教, t=漢傳佛教, p=Hànchuán Fójiào) is a Chinese form of Mahayana Buddhism which has shaped Chinese culture in a wide variety of areas including art, politics, literature, philosophy, ...
.
The Five Hundred Luohan
Lin Tinggui is best known for taking part alongside
Zhou Jichang
Zhou Jichang (), Japanese: Shuu Kijou) (active late twelfth century) was a Chinese painter of the Song Dynasty (960 - 1279 AD). His artwork featured many central themes of Chinese Buddhism and Buddhist folklore.
His contemporary and associate was ...
(Japanese: Shuu Kijou) in the completion of the ''Five Hundred Luohan'' (Chinese: ''Wubai Luohan''), a set of 100 paintings commissioned as a gift to a Buddhist temple in 1175 by a Chinese Buddhist abbot. This artistic project in honor of the luohan was completed three years later in 1178.
In Chinese Buddhist folklore, it was said that five hundred
luohan (Buddhist
saints
In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness
Sacred describes something that is dedicated or set apart for the service or worship of a deity; is considered worthy of spiritual res ...
) inhabited a peak beyond the stone bridge of Mount Tiantai located at
Jiuhuashan, modern-day
Qingyang
Qingyang () is a prefecture-level city in eastern Gansu province, China.
Geography and climate
Qingyang is the easternmost prefecture-level division of Gansu and is thus sometimes referred to as "Longdong" (). It forms an administrative penins ...
County,
Anhui
Anhui , (; formerly romanized as Anhwei) is a landlocked province of the People's Republic of China, part of the East China region. Its provincial capital and largest city is Hefei. The province is located across the basins of the Yangtze River ...
province,
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
. This belief was either formed from an older
Daoist
Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the ''Tao'' ...
belief that the site was home to immortals, or from knowledge of Buddhist legend from
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
, specifically the belief of five hundred
arhats
In Buddhism, an ''arhat'' (Sanskrit: अर्हत्) or ''arahant'' (Pali: अरहन्त्, 𑀅𑀭𑀳𑀦𑁆𑀢𑁆) is one who has gained insight into the true nature of existence and has achieved ''Nirvana'' and liberated ...
living on Mt. Buddhavanagiri near Rajagrha. It was this belief that provided the central theme of Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang's artwork.
The Five Hundred Luohan outside of China
During the 13th century, the set of paintings completed by Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang were imported to Japan and wound up as the property of Jufuku-ji Temple in
Kamakura, Kanagawa
is a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.
Kamakura has an estimated population of 172,929 (1 September 2020) and a population density of 4,359 persons per km² over the total area of . Kamakura was designated as a city on 3 November 1939.
Kamak ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Hand-painted copies of the scrolls were made in 1368 by the Japanese painter-
priest
A priest is a religious leader authorized to perform the sacred rituals of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and one or more deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particu ...
Minchou (1351 - 1431 AD) for the Buddhist temples
Engaku-ji
, or Engaku-ji (円覚寺), is one of the most important Zen Buddhist temple complexes in Japan and is ranked second among Kamakura's Five Mountains. It is situated in the city of Kamakura, in Kanagawa Prefecture to the south of Tokyo.
Founded ...
and Toufuku-ji in Kamakura. The painting set was moved by the Hojo warrior family at a later date to Sounji, and in the 16th century they were taken from eastern Japan by the late
Sengoku period
The was a period in History of Japan, Japanese history of near-constant civil war and social upheaval from 1467 to 1615.
The Sengoku period was initiated by the Ōnin War in 1467 which collapsed the Feudalism, feudal system of Japan under the ...
warlord
Toyotomi Hideyoshi
, otherwise known as and , was a Japanese samurai and ''daimyō'' (feudal lord) of the late Sengoku period regarded as the second "Great Unifier" of Japan.Richard Holmes, The World Atlas of Warfare: Military Innovations that Changed the Cour ...
as spoils of war. He placed this precious set of 100 paintings in the
Hōkō-ji Temple, near
Hamamatsu, Shizuoka
is a city located in western Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan. the city had an estimated population of 791,707 in 340,591 households, making it the prefecture's largest city, and a population density of . The total area of the site was .
Overview
H ...
, Japan. The painting set was then finally placed at the
Rinzai
The Rinzai school ( ja, , Rinzai-shū, zh, t=臨濟宗, s=临济宗, p=Línjì zōng) is one of three sects of Zen in Japanese Buddhism (along with Sōtō and Ōbaku). The Chinese Linji school of Chan was first transmitted to Japan by Myōan E ...
Buddhist
Daitoku-ji
is a Buddhist temple, one of fourteen autonomous branches of the Rinzai school of Japanese Zen. It is located in Kita-ku, Kyoto, Japan. The "mountain name" ('' sangō'') by which it is known is . The Daitoku-ji temple complex today covers more ...
Temple in
Kyoto
Kyoto (; Japanese: , ''Kyōto'' ), officially , is the capital city of Kyoto Prefecture in Japan. Located in the Kansai region on the island of Honshu, Kyoto forms a part of the Keihanshin metropolitan area along with Osaka and Kobe. , the ci ...
,
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
, in its subtemple of Soken'in, which Hideyoshi had sponsored in honor of his predecessor,
Oda Nobunaga
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan.
Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...
. In 1894, the temple was in need of funds for repair, and so auctioned forty-four of the 100 painted scrolls in
Boston
Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Ten of these paintings were sold by the Japanese during the exhibit (while the rest returned to Kyoto), while the painting ''Luohan Laundering'' by Lin Tinggui was given as a gift to the tour's
American
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
organizer. The latter then sold the painting in 1902 to
Charles Lang Freer
Charles Lang Freer (February 25, 1854 – September 25, 1919) was an American industrialist, art collector, and patron. He is known for his large collection of East Asian, American, and Middle Eastern Art. In 1906, Freer donated his extensive col ...
, and is now housed in the
Freer Gallery of Art
The Freer Gallery of Art is an art museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. focusing on Asian art. The Freer and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery together form the National Museum of Asian Art in the United States. The Freer and Sac ...
, part of the
Smithsonian Museum
A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...
in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
In this famous painting of Lin Tinggui,
Luohan Laundering' (1178), five brightly colored Luohan and one attendant are seen washing their clothes and hanging them out to dry by a gushing stream moving through a dismally brown-shaded and thick-wooded landscape. On the lower right-hand corner of the painting, almost invisible to the naked eye, is a small signature penned in gold by Lin Tinggui. The Freer Gallery also has a painting from the set done by Zhou Jichang, calle
''Rock Bridge at Tiantai Mountain''
Several other works in the ''Five Hundred Luohan'' set by Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang alike are at the
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts (often abbreviated as MFA Boston or MFA) is an art museum in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the 20th-largest art museum in the world, measured by public gallery area. It contains 8,161 paintings and more than 450,000 works ...
.
See also
*
Culture of Song Dynasty
*
Chinese painting
Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as ''guó huà'' (), meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western style ...
*
List of Chinese painters
This is a list of Chinese painters:
See also
* Chinese calligraphy
* Chinese painting
* List of calligraphers
* Lists of painters
{{Asian artists
Painters
Chinese
Chinese can refer to:
* Something related to China
* Chinese pe ...
External links
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston- Lin Tinggui and Zhou Jichang's artwork
Smithsonian Freer Gallery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lin, Tinggui
Song dynasty painters
Song dynasty Buddhists
Artifacts in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution
12th-century Chinese painters
12th-century Chinese people
Date of death unknown
Year of birth uncertain
Buddhist artists