Rotolo di Vimalakirti che espone il Dharma, su carta; 34,6x207,5
Imagine a philosophical debate so intense it required a fake illness to start it. This scroll depicts Vimalakirti, a brilliant Buddhist layman who pretended to be sick just to get the Buddha's top students to visit him so he could school them in wisdom. Li Gonglin, a Song Dynasty master, painted this using 'baimiao'—pure ink lines with no color, creating a look that resembles a highly refined, elegant sketch. The massive block of text on the left isn't part of the original story, but a 'colophon,' basically a VIP guestbook where centuries of collectors stamped their seals and wrote poems to prove they had admired this treasure.
- Technique
- Ink line drawing (Baimiao)
- Material
- Paper
- Dimensions
- 34.6 x 207.5 cm
Location: Palace Museum, Beijing
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