Italy / China: Gilded wooden image of a Luohan or arhat at Hualin Temple, Guangzhou, often claimed to be an image of the Italian explorer Marco Polo (c.1254—1324)

Polo's biographers Yule and Cordier (1923) are doubtful of the identification of the 'Canton Marco Polo', believing the Luohan / arhat effigy is more probably based on a 16th century Portuguese visitor to Guangzhou.

The identification seems to have been accepted by the Museo Correr in Marco Polo's native Venice, however, where a copy of the effigy (shown here) has been on display since 1881.

Copyright:

Supplier: CPA Media Co. Ltd.

Photographer:

Museo Correr

Credit:

Pictures From History