Color, gold, and silver on indigo-dyed paper, rock crystal jiku
Dimensions:
H x W (overall): 26 x 877.3 cm (10 1/4 x 345 3/8 in)
Type:
Calligraphy
Origin:
Japan
Date:
1180
Period:
Heian period
Description:
Handscroll with regulated lines of seventeen Chinese characters, written in gold and silver on indigo dyed paper. Frontispiece illustration painted in full color and embellished with gold and silver depicting dancers costumed as a butterfly and a supernatural bird carrying liturgical banners aloft. The text employs a formal style of Chinese characters customarily used for writing sutras.
With rock crystal jiku. In a blue-red silk wrapper and a wooden storage box.
Provenance:
?-1980
Kurisu Michio, Osaka, Japan, method of acquisition unknown [1]
From 1980
Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Kurisu Michio, Osaka, Japan [2]
Notes:
[1] See object file for copy of Freer Gallery of Art vault record, no. V25.80ab, indicating that the object, sent by Kurisu Michio, was received at the Freer on March 10, 1980; “D-16” is typed below vault record no. V25.80ab. See also copy of a letter from Thomas Lawton to Kurisu Michio, dated February 20, 1980, indicating that there were three items currently in his collection which the Freer Gallery of Art was interested in examining. Lawton wrote, “During his recent visit to Japan, Dr. Yoshiaki Shimizu of our staff saw several objects in your collection that he would like to have brought to the Freer Gallery of Art for further study.” The third object identified in Lawton’s letter is described as “Two scrolls from the Motochika-kyo (Lotus Sutra transcribed by Motochika).”
[2] See object file for copy of Michio Kurisu [sic.] invoice to the Freer Gallery of Art, dated to April 7, 1980, and approved by the Secretary of the Smithsonian on May 15, 1980.
Research updated October 20, 2023
Collection:
Freer Gallery of Art Collection
Exhibition History:
Words of Wisdom: Buddhist Calligraphy from Japan (April 1, 2023 to February 25, 2024)
The Power of Words in an Age of Crisis (October 14, 2017 to May 6, 2018)
Faith and Form: Selected Calligraphy and Painting from the Japanese Religious Traditions (March 20 to July 18, 2004)
