Buddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peach

Buddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peach

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Although they are referenced in Indian sources, luohans (Sanskrit: arhat), or Buddhist disciples, are not represented in the visual arts of the subcontinent. Based on the disciples of the Historical Buddha, this group of sixteen figures was first depicted in China in the tenth century. By the sixteenth century, luohans had become an important motif in secular painting and the decorative arts, where they are understood as exemplars of a cultivated, but renunciatory, lifestyle.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Buddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peachBuddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peachBuddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peachBuddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peachBuddhist disciple, or luohan, holding a peach

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.