A set of twelve Chinese watercolours on rice paper , late 18th century, depicting miscellaneous scenes featuring mythological characters, 51cm x 62cm (20 x 24 3/8in.) (12) The present set of twelve gouaches depict scenes from Journey to the West , the famous classical Chinese novel published in the 16th century during the Ming dynasty and attributed to Wu Cheng'en. The story is based on the life of Xuanzeng, a Buddhist monk who was tasked with finding ancient Buddhist scrolls and artifacts and bringing them back to China. One of the scenes depicts three of his fantastical disciples who have been forced to journey with the monk and protect him in order to do penance for their sins. The first is The Monkey King, Sun Wukong, which means "awakened to emptiness". He has a rather long back story in the novel, and was ultimately trapped by the Buddha for defying Heaven. He is not only the most intelligent of the disciples, but is the most violent as well and is constantly reproved for his violence by Xuanzang. It takes a magical ring to control Sun Wukong. It is placed on his head and Xuanzang chants a ring tightening mantra which causes Sun Wukong to have splitting headaches. The second disciple is Zhu Bajie, which means "Eight Precepts Pig", sometimes translated as Pigsy or just Pig. He had been the Marshal of the Heavenly Canopy, a commander of Heaven's naval forces, and was banished to the mortal realm for flirting with the moon goddess Chang'e. Whilst he is a very good fighter, he has a rather insatiable appetite for women and food. He is also incredibly lazy, which creates tensions between the disciples. The third disciple is the river ogre Sha Wujing, also translated as Friar Sand or Sandy. Like Zhu Bajie, he was in the heavenly employ as the celestial Curtain Lifting General, and was banished to the mortal realm for dropping and shattering a crystal goblet of the Queen Mother of the West. Unlike either of the other disciples, he is a quiet and dependable character and acts as a foil to the other two.