TWELVE ALBUM LEAVES WITH BUDDHIST SAGES

Description:

China, 18th/19th ct.
34,6 x 25,5 cm
Ink on paper. The twelve scenes in fine line drawing depict twelve Buddhist sages in an unusual humoresque manner. A Louhan is shown defeating the dragon king and his tortoise attendant while his own attendant is loosing his shoe by falling down. Another Louhan is presenting a peach to a family of apes while behind his back his attendant is eating lychees out of a basket. Another sage is depicted preaching to a circle of stones looking like disciples. On another leave an attendant is throwing flowers over an enthusiastic sage while the other attendant is collecting the flowers from the floor again. A Louhan is shown sewing while his three attendants are ironing a cloth and soot is been blown in the face of one of them. The boy Sudhana is worshipping the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in his mountain paradise while ghosts carry away the rock he is sitting on.
From an old South German private collection, assembled between 1970 and 2002
Minor wear, minor old restorations