In the style of Qiu Ying (ca. 1494 - ca. 1552), Bodhidharma Sitting under a Sala Tree, China, ca. 17th ct., Framed under glass, 95,5 x 49,2 cm, ink and colors on silkSignature: "Painted by Qiu Ying Shifu." One seal of the artist: "Qiu shi Shifu". Three collector's seals: "Nanpi Zhangshi Keyuan shoucang gengren liangjie suoyu zhiyi", "Keyuan", "Zweite Klasse" (di er pin). - Property from an old European private collection - Bodhidharma was an Indian monk who came to China around A.D. 500 and became the founder of Chan Buddhism. He introduced the Indian meditation technique of Dhyana into China and is said to have spent nine years in meditation facing a cliff wall in a monastery on the Songshan mountain. Here he is depicted sitting leisurely with a fan on a mat decorated with peonies in front of such a cliff painted in the decorative blue and green style. A stream is flowing nearby and a tall blossoming Sala tree is shading him. According to tradition Buddha was borne and died under such a tree. His physiognomy is unusually Chinese but his beard and jewelry mark his Indian origin. The painting seems to be a playful and somewhat humorous variation of the iconographic theme. It is of fine execution and high quality and masters the style of Qiu Ying quite well. Qiu Ying, style name Shifu, is considered one of the Four Great Masters of the Ming dynasty. He was a painter in Suzhou with professional training but literati connections and is especially famous for his blue and green landscape style and his fine figure painting - Minor traces of age and minor restorations