Grandeur, abundance, panache
Ritual, precise and strange
Precise painting also thrills in Ding's long scroll of luohans (arhats), a painting genre that flourished since at least the Song Period (960-1279) and in which Ding was a specialist.
Most of the figures are paired with an animal and together these dyads present charming games in shape and detail. The profile of a face is picked up in the line of a beast, the eyes of one echo the other. There is abundant interest in texture, with remarkable intimations of fur and fabric. This is less an image for devotees than one for sophisticated pleasure - and it says something of the quality of Buddhist reflection that amusement might be sought in representations of enlightened beings.
Pleasure also arises from the handscroll format. As each section is hidden from the one that precedes or follows, one progresses with both contrasts and surprises. After an introducing a cast of over thirty characters, finally, we are taken to a sealed door beneath the sea, where minor deities offer rare objects to an as yet unrevealed finality.
Paintings of arhats such as this often render the figures on a simple ground of abbreviated landscape or swirling clouds. This painting is somewhat exceptional in its rich and briskly painted background, where the treatment of water and trees creates a foil to the fine, virtuoso figure work.
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| DING Yunpeng 丁雲鵬 (1547-1628) Luohans (details) Handscroll, ink on paper 35.8 x 998 cm Private collection |