The Sixteen Luohans dated 1591 Wu Bin Chinese In the Chinese popular imagination, mendicant monks, conjurers, and mysterious hermits were often thought to be disguised living luohans,” or Buddhist holy men capable of producing miracles. When government corruption and ineptitude imperiled social order, as it did in late Ming times, such superstitious messianic beliefs became more widespread. Here, in one of his earliest extant works, Wu Bin embraced an archaic figure style and followed the tradition of depicting luohans as fantastic eccentrics whose grotesque features belie their inner spiritual nature. Wu’s humorous painting may have had a serious message: holiness can be concealed within an outwardly incongruous form. Listen to experts illuminate this artwork's story Listen Play or pause #7318. The Sixteen Luohans Supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies We're sorry, the transcript for this audio track is not available at this time. We are working to make it available as soon as possibl