# Washing the Elephant

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Subject in Chinese Buddhist painting

16–17th century copy of [Qian Xuan](/source/Qian_Xuan) (d. 1301). The [arhat](/source/Arhat) is in red, [Manjushri](/source/Manjushri) at right.

***Washing the Elephant*** ([Chinese](/source/Chinese_language): 扫象图; [pinyin](/source/Pinyin): *saoxiang*, literally **sweeping the elephant**;[1] English variants: "sweeping", and "white" or "sacred" elephant) is a subject in Chinese Buddhist painting, showing a group of men washing a [white elephant](/source/White_elephant_(animal)) with brushes, under the supervision of the [bodhisattva](/source/Bodhisattva) [Manjushri](/source/Manjushri) and an [arhat](/source/Arhat) with a [khakkhara](/source/Khakkhara) (*xīzhàng*) staff. Manjushri is usually depicted in the costume of a meditation master in Chinese Buddhist monasteries, rather than his usual appearance in iconic paintings.

The Buddhist meaning of the subject relates to "sweeping away illusion", in a pun as the Chinese words for "elephant" (象) and "illusion/form/image" (相) are both pronounced as *xiang*. One painting is inscribed with the explanation “wash off the dust and see the Buddha of thusness”.[2]

[Ding Yunpeng](/source/Ding_Yunpeng), c. 1588. [Manjushri](/source/Manjushri) enthroned, with arhat to his left.

The white elephant, widely regarded as sacred in [Buddhism](/source/Buddhism), may be shown as having six tusks,[3] a form that Buddha himself took in an earlier life recounted in the [Jataka tales](/source/Jataka_tales), and also during the [dream of Queen Maya](/source/Dream_of_Queen_Maya), when according to Buddhist tradition, he was conceived for his last earthly life.[4]

## History

The subject is restricted to China, and was most popular during the 16th century. [Ding Yunpeng](/source/Ding_Yunpeng), a devout Buddhist, painted the subject several times,[5] and it became popular painted on [Chinese porcelain](/source/Chinese_porcelain) in the Late Ming and early Qing. A vase fetched USD 137,000 in a [Christie's](/source/Christie's) auction in 2015.[6]

The earliest record of the subject in art dates from the 6th century.[7] [Tang dynasty](/source/Tang_dynasty) paintings of the same theme have a traditional colour scheme of red and white with some green.[7] A [Ming dynasty](/source/Ming_dynasty) painting of the same scene by [Chen Hongshou](/source/Chen_Hongshou) in the collection of the [Metropolitan Museum of Art](/source/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art) has an inscription suggesting that Ming intellectuals considered this scene to represent "sweeping away illusion".[8]

There is little literary evidence for the origins of the elephant tale, but researchers speculate a connection with one of the stories of the *[Nirvana Sutra](/source/Nirvana_Sutra)*. The story is of the blind men who feel an elephant ([Chinese](/source/Chinese_language): 盲人摸象; [Jyutping](/source/Jyutping): *mang2ren2mo1xiang4*)—the elephant in this tale symbolizes the "Buddha nature". A group of blind men reach out to touch a different part of the elephant—one feels the tusk and thinks it is a carrot, another mistakes the elephant's belly for an urn, and so on. The king seeks that [Shakyamuni](/source/Shakyamuni) (Buddha) illuminate their limited perception (symbolized by blindness in the parable) that permits only partial truths.

## The emperor views a scroll

*The Qianlong Emperor Viewing Paintings*, [Giuseppe Castiglione](/source/Giuseppe_Castiglione_(Jesuit_painter)), c. 1746–50

In a painting of c. 1746–50 by the [Jesuit](/source/Jesuit) missionary and court painter [Giuseppe Castiglione](/source/Giuseppe_Castiglione_(Jesuit_painter)) of the [Qianlong Emperor](/source/Qianlong_Emperor) viewing works from his huge art collection, the work being viewed is a scroll of the subject by [Ding Yunpeng](/source/Ding_Yunpeng). The landscape in which the emperor sits echoes that in the painting. Around the same time, Qianlong commissioned a painting of the subject from one of his Chinese court painters, [Ding Guanpeng](/source/Ding_Guanpeng), in which the figure of Manjushri was a portrait of the emperor. This is now in the [National Palace Museum](/source/National_Palace_Museum) in [Taiwan](/source/Taiwan), while the painting of Qianlong is in the [Palace Museum, Beijing](/source/Palace_Museum%2C_Beijing).[9]

A different version by Ding Yunpeng was sold in China in 2018 for RMB 10 million, then equating to USD 1,572,327.[10]

## Li Gonglin

There is a [Yuan](/source/Yuan_dynasty) or [Song dynasty](/source/Song_dynasty) ink on silk [hanging scroll](/source/Hanging_scroll) attributed to [Li Gonglin](/source/Li_Gonglin). The painting depicts 8 foreign grooms, 2 foreign observers, four monks, and two Chinese attired in loose robes. The heavy labor is left to foreign grooms. It is in the collection of the Indiana University Art Museum.[8]

The silk painting attributed to Li Gonglin was at one time in the collection of [Xiang Yuanbian](/source/Xiang_Yuanbian) (1525-1590),[7] and this and other works were scattered as a result of subsequent military invasions, with some passing into the hands of other collectors.[11]

## Notes

Wikimedia Commons has media related to [Washing the White Elephant](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Washing_the_White_Elephant).

1. **[^](#cite_ref-1)** Christie's

1. **[^](#cite_ref-2)** Tsinghua; Christie's

1. **[^](#cite_ref-3)** Tsinghua; [A 17th-century 6-tusked elephant in this painting](https://www.priestleyandferraro.com/art.aspx?id=404) at a dealer.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-4)** Ascot

1. **[^](#cite_ref-5)** Tsinghua

1. **[^](#cite_ref-6)** Christie's; [A Ming brushpot in the Metropolitan Museum of Art](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/74336); Ascot, for a [Famille Rose](/source/Famille_Rose) vase.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-BergerArt1994_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-BergerArt1994_7-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-BergerArt1994_7-2) Patricia Ann Berger; Helen Foresman Spencer Museum of Art; Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (1994). [*Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850 – 1850 ; \[exhibition, August 27 – October 9 1994 ...\]*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6ffYIPn--wC&pg=RA2-PP6). University of Hawaii Press. p. 2. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0-8248-1662-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0-8248-1662-9).

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-hawaii_8-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-hawaii_8-1) Berger, Patricia Ann (1994). [*Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850 – 1850*](https://books.google.com/books?id=Y6ffYIPn--wC&pg=RA2-PP5). University of Hawaii Press. p. 405. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [0824816625](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/0824816625). Retrieved 6 August 2019.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-9)** Berger, Patricia, *Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist Art and Political Authority in Qing China*, 2003, pp 63–64, University of Hawaii Press, ISBN 9780824862367, [google books](https://books.google.com/books?id=0ZoBEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA63); Clunas, 91–97, who also gives Ding Guanpeng a share in the Castiglione painting

1. **[^](#cite_ref-10)** ["Chinese Painting ‘Wash Elephant’ Hammered Down for RMB 10m at Poly Xiamen](https://en.thevalue.com/articles/poly-xiamen-important-chinese-painting-ding-yunpeng-washing-the-elephant-ming-dynasty-buddhist-2018-jan-results), *The Value*, Jan 2018

1. **[^](#cite_ref-11)** ["The Ming Dynasty Legacy of Xiang Yuanbian"](https://www.npm.gov.tw/exh98/xiang_yuanbian/english/english_introduction.html). *National Palace Museum*. Retrieved 6 August 2019.

## References

- "Ascot": "[Famille Rose](/source/Famille_Rose) ‘Washing The Elephant’ Vase (YFM061625)", [Ascot Court Antiques](https://chinese-ceramics.com/portfolio/yongzheng-famille-rose-washing-elephant-vase-sold/)

- "Christie's": ["A BLUE AND WHITE 'WASHING THE ELEPHANT' VASE, EARLY KANGXI PERIOD, CIRCA 1670"](https://www.christies.com/en/lot/lot-5872062), Lot Eassay for Lot 3569, Live Auction 3721, 2015

- [Clunas, Craig](/source/Craig_Clunas), *Chinese Painting and Its Audiences*, 2017, Princeton University Press, ISBN 9780691171937, [google books](https://books.google.com/books?id=IOyPDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA93)

- "Tsinghua": [Tsinghua University Art Museum](https://www.artmuseum.tsinghua.edu.cn/en/cpsj_english/gndc/gcxy/201605/t20160530_1178.shtml), another version by Ding Yunpeng

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Washing the Elephant](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_the_Elephant) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washing_the_Elephant?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.