A rare famille verte biscuit figure of Xianlong Luohan, the dragon tamer. Kangxi

The luohan is cast seated with his legs pendant, his left hand is holding an alms bowl, and his right arm is raised, holding a pearl in his right hand. The slightly tilted head looks towards his left hand; his face cast with exaggerated facial features with a broad, hooked nose and large bulging eyes. He is wearing an Indian-style robe exposing his right arms and large rotund belly. The lower half of the robe gathers in folds.

“Monk’s alms bow”or Bat is a container for Buddhist monks. It is used to receive food offering and is considered as one of the eight necessities of a Buddhist monk prescribed in the Tripitaka.

Notice

The Eighteen Lohan (or Arhats) are depicted in Chinese Buddhism as the original followers of Gautama Buddha (Arhat) who have followed the Noble Eightfold path and attained the four stages of enlightenment. They have reached the state of Nirvana and are free of worldly cravings. In China, the eighteen arhats are also a popular subject in Buddhist art, such as the famous Chinese group of glazed pottery luohans from Yixian from about 1000 CE.

Originally there were only sixteen arhats. Worship of a group of sixteen arhats was set forth in an Indian sutra that was translated into Chinese in the mid-seventh century. Between the late Tang dynasty (618-917) and early Five Dynasties and ten Kingdoms period (907-979) of China, two additional arhats were added, one paired with a tiger (Taming Dragon Lohan – Xianglong Lohan) and the other one with a dragon (Taming Tiger Lohan – Fúhǔ Luóhàn).

In the Chinese tradition, the 18 Luohans are generally presented in the order they are said to have appeared to Guan Xiu, not according to their power: Deer Sitting, Happy, Raised Bowl, Raised Pagoda, Meditating, Oversea, Elephant Riding, Laughing Lion, Open Heart, Raised Hand, Thinking, Scratched Ear, Calico Bag, Plantain, Long Eyebrow, Doorman, Taming Dragon and Taming Tiger.

The current figure of luohan is holding an alms bowl in his left hand, while in his raised right hand he is holding a pearl, help to identify him as the seventeenth of the Eighteen Luohan: Xianglong Luohan (Dragon- taming Luohan).The identity of Xianglong Luohan is disputable, since it is not rooted in Buddhist scripture, and was added to the Sixteen Luohan prescribed in Nandimitravadana by Chinese worshipers. Su Shi identifies him as Nandimitra, the author of Nandimitravadana, while monk Zhipan in the Southern Song Dynasty argues that he is Mahakasyapa, one of the principle disciples of Buddha Sakyamuni, an identification later adopted by the Qianlong Emperor in the 18th century. Although Xianglong Luohan is not recorded in Buddhist scriptures, the story of a dragon- taming monk can be traced back to Sakyamuni himself, as he was said to have performed a miraculous act of taming a dragon (naga, also ‘serpent’) and confining it in his alms bowl when he tried to convert the nonbeliever Uruvilakasyapa.

The earliest example of this iconography seems to have appeared in the Wuyue Kingdom period, as one of the Sixteen Luohan sculpture in the Yanxia Cave in Hangzhou was carved as a monk holding a pearl in his right hand and an alms bowl in his left. However, no dragon is depicted, and since he is one of the Sixteen Luohan, his identity is unlikely to be Xianglong Luohan, who is seventeenth of the Eighteen Luohan. Nevertheless, it is certain that this iconography appears by the 10th century.

The current luohan is depicted as a foreigner with very exaggerated facial features that recall those of Guanxiu’s luohan paintings with their caricature rendering of expressions.