Painting on paper of an arhat, China, 18th century Ink and polychrome on paper depicting an arhat seated on a stone mound beneath leafy trees. He can be recognized by his long eyebrows and monastic habit. Accompanied on his right by an assistant and on his left by another figure holding a sutra box. Opposite him, a scholar's root table on which rest a perfume burner and incense ceremony utensils. Signed with two seals lower left. 30.5 x 30.5 cm Framed under glass. In ancient Buddhism, the term arhat, which can be translated as "saint", designates the highest stage of religious progression for followers of the Lesser Way. According to Indian tradition, the Buddha commissioned sixteen arhats (the number varied from four to eight to sixteen) to protect the Law and guard it after his death, without entering nirvāna, until the appearance of a new Buddha. These sixteen then became eighteen in China (a pictorial tradition with no textual basis). In China, the sixteen and eighteen arhats are depicted in numerous sculptures and paintings.