Szilágyi András (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 14. (Budapest, 1994)
FAJCSÁK Györgyi: Luo-han-festmények a Hopp Ferenc Kelet-Ázsiai Művészeti Múzeum kínai gyűjteményéből
4. A standing luo-han figure holding his staff (in Sanskrit: khakkara) on the right side of the album-leaf is trampling down a twisting dragon. A tortoise standing opposite him is the attendant of the dragon-king kneeling in front of the luo-han. There is a similar scene on the above-mentioned handscroll painted by Wang Wen: The Eighteen Luohans Crossing the Sea. 24 The dragon-king and his attendants with the floating embellishment can be seen on the left hand side of the picture, as if he is waiting for something. Opposite them a luo-han is standing with a stick clasps the shoulder of his attendant. This scene is completed by the checking of the dragon on our album painting. It depicts the twisted dragon too, which together with the tiger are typical animals of the luo-han paintings. In addition to dragons, the dragonking was also favourite figure in the Ming Buddhist paintings. 25 Depiction of minor demonic figures was not new in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The spread of Buddhist depictions of hell as well as popular prints of the Daoist world of spirits inspired these details of scene. 5. Above the head of a luo-han sitting on a round rush mat his own standing figure can be seen placed on a small cloud. 26 Instead of the suggestive depiction of the face of the meditating figure, the painter intends to exteriorize the inner life of the lou-han by visualization of various figures and animals around him. Conceivably the impetus of the diabolical figures standing on the left side of the luo-han came from the muscled, demonic figures with distorted faces, and worn tiger skins on the demon paintings. Such figures had been frequently depicted in the demonic retinue of Zhong Kui for centuries; 27 however, they can be found on luo-han paintings too. 28 Two female figures wearing peonies in their hair are on the right side of the luo-han. The long hand-covering sleeves and the hair ornaments resemble those depicted on the contemporary portraits of court ladies and on genre pictures. 29 There are the five poisonous reptiles (the viper, the scorpion, the centipede, the toad and the spider) around the sitting luo-han figure to counteract pernicious influences. One of the demons is holding a frog, popular subject-matter in Zen paintings, since, like a good meditating monk, it remains for hours in a motionless position without giving any sign of life. 6. A luo-han with long board and hair falling over his shoulders is sitting on a rush mat surrounded by rocks. He holds in his hand a fly-whisk. 10 Before him there is an alms-bowl, behind him there are books in a case and his staff. The impetus of this scene must have come from the luo-han paintings depicting meditating figures seated on seats of creeping roots or in a cave, 31 as well as from the peculiar-shaped rock setting of the Daoist Immortals which had independent life. 7. A luo-han sitting on a rock pedestal is just opening his brest, revealing a female image in it. Two boys are kneeling in homage in front of him, and look at the luo-han in wonder. The second group of the luo-han images in our alburn consists of various scenes derived from the scrolls depicted Chinese literati gatherings and their garden enjoyments. 8-9. Both album-leaves have a central luohan figure sitting with hunched up leg. One figure (8) holds a brush and the other (9) leans on his chin referring to the characteristic scholar figures in Chinese painting. 32 Next to the first figure (8) a servant can be seen at the table rubbing ink. There are some writing implements on the table. In the background a boy arranges chrysanthemums. The other luo-han (9) is looking at children arranging chrysanthemums as well. The posture of our luo-hans suggests their comparison with figures with one of the most famous scrolls by Liu Guan-dao (fl. 1279-1300) entitled Whiling away the Summer, 32, where inspiration for the similar posture of the resting scholar was drawn from the early representations of the popular Chinese Buddhist sage Vimalakirti, well known from a Buddhist sutra. In connection with the Ming
