National Treasures & Important Cultural Properties
of National Institutes for Cultural Heritage, Japan

This work was created by Shi Ke of the Hou (later) Shu kingdom in the period of Five Dynasties. He studied under Chônanpon, who was a master at 画火 (painting fire), and was good at figure painting with India ink. Although he did not care what other people think and pursued his own free style with ease, Shi Ke's painting style, where faces are painted in details while clothes are drawn with simple strokes became the standard for subsequent figure painting with India ink in China. The second Zen patriarch in contemplation is the work that best represents Shi Ke's suibokuga (picture expressed using only lines and shades in India ink) style. It seems that he primarily painted a Taoist and Buddhist figure such as Bukan and Hotei, rather than Eka the second patriarch of Chinese Zen Buddhism.