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Miracle of the Dragon
1600s
- Medium
- Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on silk
- Classification
- Painting
- Dimensions
- Image: 109.2 x 58.5 cm (43 x 23 1/16 in.); Overall: 205.4 x 76.4 cm (80 7/8 x 30 1/16 in.)
- Culture
- China, Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Buddhist disciples are grouped around a dragon in the lower right part of the scroll. The figures' varying levels of composure at the miraculous appearance of the dragon indicates how far removed each figure is from worldly affairs. The lay people's body language expresses their surprise. In contrast, the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, in the upper right has been seated in meditation for such a long time that birds have begun assembling twigs for a nest atop his head. His eyes remain closed, and his body still, unmoved by either the sudden materialization of the dragon or the proximity of the monkey, deer, and birds.
Dragons have been part of Buddhist culture since antiquity; in Chinese Buddhism the dragon is often interpreted as a symbol of enlightenment.
