Cleveland Museum of Art

Lineage Portrait of Buddhist Monks

Date

1600s

Medium

hanging scroll mounted on a panel (framed); ink, color, and gold on paper

Culture

China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This painting features 24 Buddhist priests, likely of several generations and members of the same temple or school. The priests are depicted with attention to individual features and appearances, dressed in their formal garments. They may represent monks of the Ōbaku school, a form of Chan (Japanese: Zen) Buddhism founded in Japan by Chinese émigré monks and their Japanese followers. The painting has remnants of a Japanese mounting, indicating that it was once kept in Japan.

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