Seated luohan (arhat) in a grotto

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A luohan, (arhat, in Sanskrit) is a Buddhist sage who has achieved enlightenment. Groups of sixteen, eighteen, and five-hundred luohans were worshipped in China, where they were a common theme in painting and the decorative arts. The beautifully engraved inscription on this sculpture identifies the luohan as Kanaka, the eighth in the set of sixteen, and explains that the Qianlong emperor had this sculpture made as part of a set of sixteen images for a shrine in the palace.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.

Metropolitan Museum of Art