The Eighteen Sages of the Lotus Society

Arts of Asia

Qing dynasty (1644–1911), 18th–19th century

Artist unknown

This painting depicts a legendary gathering of the White Lotus Society, which was founded by a monk named Huiyan who lived during the Eastern Jin dynasty (317–420). He and his followers focused their practice on visualizing Buddha Amitābha. But surviving paintings of the White Lotus Society show the assembled members performing a ritual before Bodhisattva Mañjuśrī, who appears atop the lion he used as a vehicle. This confusion of the deities originated in the apocryphal text The Hagiographies of the Eighteen Noble Worthies of the Lotus Society, which served as the basis for this painting.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: The Eighteen Sages of the Lotus Society
Place: China (Artist's nationality:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 1601–1700
Medium: Handscroll; ink and color on silk
Inscriptions: Colophon with spurious signature of Wen Zhengming Qiu Ying Shifu shi [family] zhi ; followed by text of the “Record....” attr. to Wen Zhengming in clerical script, dated 1520 (Stephen Little)
Dimensions: 30 × 316.5 cm (11 13/16 × 124 5/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Mrs. Chauncey McCormick
Reference Number: 1943.1150
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/49021/manifest.json

Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings: Third Series, Vol. 1 American and Canadian Collections 1, Research Field of Art, East Asian Department, Institute for Advanced Studies on Asia, The University of Tokyo, by University of Tokyo Press, 2013; page I-20, 21, No. A 3–066.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.