Zhao Jue

CHINA, Zhejiang, Ningbo; Southern Song dynasty

Zhao Jue was a painter from Shiming (present day Ningbo) whose paintings, though not found in Chinese records, were documented in Japan. His work, Sixteen Arhats, which is comprised of 16 scroll paintings, is kept at Hokekyoji Temple in Japan. The set was turned into 8 pairs of screens, each measuring 87.6 cm high by 47.9 cm wide. Each screen depicts a brightly painted arhat sitting on a rock. Among the 16 paintings, 4 of them were repainted during the Edo period (1615–1868). The original version of the second painting, Kanakavatsa, is now kept at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in Massachusetts, USA. The corner of the painting features Zhao’s signature in regular script. According to the indistinct inscription on the painting, Assembly of Three Buddhas, which is kept at Manganji Temple in Japan and is listed as an Important Cultural Property of Japan, it is suggested that the painting was painted by him.