Buddhist tradition tells of groups of 16, 18, or 500 luohans who were commanded by Buddha to await the coming of Maitreya, the Future Buddha. This promise of salvation held great appeal to Chinese Buddhists at the end of the ninth century, for they had just been through a period a great persecution, and a cult built around the luohans as guardians gained momentum at that time.

The Museum has two statues from a group of seated luohans purportedly found in a mountain cave near Yizhou, (now known as Yixian) in Hebei Province, and dating from this unsettled period. The polychromatic glaze covering the figures has strong parallels to the well-known sancai, or three-color, tradition found in earlier Tang-dynasty funerary figures. The high quality of the designs and the use of sophisticated techniques such as reinforcing rods have long led scholars to speculate that this example, and others from the set, may have been made at one of the imperial kilns, where large firing chambers and highly skilled craftsmen were available.

This object is part of "Scan The World". Scan the World is a non-profit initiative introduced by MyMiniFactory, through which we are creating a digital archive of fully 3D printable sculptures, artworks and landmarks from across the globe for the public to access for free. Scan the World is an open source, community effort, if you have interesting items around you and would like to contribute, email stw@myminifactory.com to find out how you can help.