JBAE - Japanese Buddhist Art in European Collections

ISO	CZE	Object type	Painting	Museum	Náprstkovo muzeum asijských,afrických a amerických kultur / Náprstek Museum of Asian, African and Americal Cultures
Object title	Buddha Shakyamuni	Ownership current status	Czech National Museum Asian collection NpM (Czech State Property)
Copyright owner	All data courtesy of the museum/owner. Copyright is held by the owner as stated above.
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Artist, kiln
Period
Date
Origin
School, style
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Collection registration number
Collection registration number 2
Collection registration number 3
Size height (mm)	800
Size length (mm)
Size width (mm)	700
Size depth (mm)
Size other (i.e. diameter)	whole assembly 1560 x 860 mm


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05	04	03	02	01

10	09	08	07	06

15	14	13	12	11

20	19	18	17	16

25	24	23	22	21

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Description

The paradise of the Shakyamuni Buddha/ Taima mandala – painted in colour on paper, 19th c., much use of gold paint, very precisely painted details.
The paradise of the Shakyamuni Buddha is a frequent iconographic motif of the Pure Land school. The label Shakyamuni literally means “sage from the Shakya family”, and is an epithet of the Siddhartha Gautama or the historical Buddha. The phrase “Shakyamuni” is used chiefly to distinguish pictures of the historical Buddha from other iconographic variants. 
On this scroll the Buddha Shakyamuni is sitting in the very centre of the composition, his hands held in a gesture of “turning the wheel of learning”, in which the thumb and the index finger of the right hand create a wheel, and the middle finger of the left hand symbolically turns it. Buddha is sitting in the lotus position (legs tucked against the body and crossed, the right one on top, both knees pressed to the ground and the soles facing upwards). On either side we see two sitting Bodhisattvas. The scene is filled with further Bodhisattvas, saints and believers. In the band that that frames three sides of the scene there is further action, probably tales from the life of the historical Buddha with allusions to the teaching of the Pure Land school. The vertical columns showing the various scenes are complemented by texts written in gold but in great detail. Everything is carried out with an exceptional feeling for detail. There is liberal use of gold paint, but its tone is not bright and does not therefore give a glittering or cheap impression; instead, it adds to the overall feeling of majesty. Not just the pictorial part of the scroll is painted, but so too is the apparent mount, which is in fact an optical illusion, since it is made of paper (a technique known as kakibyōso). Here, too, gold is used for the wealth of tendrils and flower motifs. Overall this is a very successful work. Similar iconography can be seen on the Jōdo mandala, inv. no. 33 931.

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Material and technique

polychromy on paper

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Date of entry into collection
Acquisition backgroundtransferred from the National Gallery
Ownership, current statusCzech National Museum Asian collection NpM (Czech State Property)

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Japanese Buddhist Art in European Collections

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