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Lot Essay
This precious work is made in the joined woodblock (yosegi zukuri) technique, the body hollow. The figure is painted in rich polychrome pigments and the eyes are realistically inset with glass, a characteristic of the Kamakura period and later. There are traces of cut gold-leaf decoration in geometric patterns applied to the scarf and skirt. The hair is piled high in a topknot with decorative side locks, bound with multiple ornamental bands. The gentle, youthful figure is modeled with sensuous curves. A suggestion of volume and weight in the drapery folds and the charming overlapping of the feet help bring the image to life.
The small icon was possibly intended for private devotional use. It is enclosed in a black-lacquer shrine that has some age to it. Nothing is known of statue's provenance, but a document dated 1304 was allegedly found in the hollow interior when the current owner removed the head for purposes of conservation. Statues are often dismantled during necessary conservation work. The interior may prove to contain all sorts of sacred objects and votive offerings, as described by Helmut Brinker in "Anointing with Eyes, Raiment and Relic: Insights from the Cologne Jizo," Impressions, Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America, 34 (2013): 151-69 []). Brinker reports as follows:
To reinforce the efficacy of a Buddhist icon, a variety of objects--precious relics, ritual implements, holy scriptures and printed images, printed magic spells, miniature figures of divinities, models of priests' robes, bronze mirrors, coins, musical instruments or even textile forms of human organs--were deposited in special cavities in the hollow interior of a sculpture, before the finishing touches and initial consecration.
The documents accompanying the Nyoirin Kannon are now mounted as two handscrolls. The first scroll includes woodblock-printed images of Nyoirin Kannon (1 image); Nyoirin Kannon and Monju Bosatsu (1); Monju Bosatsu (3); Eleven-headed Kannon (1); Jizo Bosatsu (1); and an ink drawing of Jizo Bosatsu with two tahoto pagodas.
The second scroll has three components. The first is a collection of various Shingon mantras, or magic spells. The second--of most importance to us--is a mantra titled "Fubo jobutsu shingon" (Mantra for the peace of father and mother), concluding with the following inscription:
Kagen ni nen shichi gatsu juichi hi (11th day of the 7th month of the second year of Kagen [1304]), Daisho Nyoirin Kannon omitai ni shu shu mono wo komuru tokoro nari (inserted various objects in the body of the holy Nyoirin Kannon). Kongo busshi Dokei Iyo kuni junin shonen yonjuichi (Kongo [honorific title] Buddhist sculptor Dokei living in Iyo province [Ehime Prefecture], age 41).
The third component of this scroll is the Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyo).
Kannon, the Japanese name for the Indian Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, is the bodhisattva of compassion. Because of the boundless love he offered to all beings, this was the most beloved of all the Buddhist deities throughout Asia. The Nyoirin Kannon, a prominent deity in the Japanese Esoteric Buddhist pantheon, is one of the six "changed forms" of Kannon, especially associated with the granting of desires. The deity derives his name from two of the objects he holds in his hands: the nyoi-hoju, or cintamani, a fabulous gem capable of responding to every wish; and the nyoi-rin, meaning "wheel," symbolizing the turning of the Wheel of the Law. It is common to find that the implements held in the hands are either missing or replaced with replicas.
Nyoirin Kannon was widely worshiped by those who hoped to gain riches and see their requests fulfilled. This gracious image shows the deity seated in a pose of "royal ease." Although drawings frequently depict this deity as a bodhisattva with two arms, the six-armed form was also popular in Japan. As in this sculpture, one hand is often shown touching the cheek, to represent Kannon pondering on how to save all sentient beings. The corresponding left arm is braced against the lotus pedestal, touching an imagined Mount Fudaraku, the Pure Land of Kannon, said to be in the Southern Seas. In paintings, the bodhisattva is shown seated on the craggy bluffs of Mount Fudaraka, looking out at the surrounding sea.
Of the other four arms, one of the right hands holds the wish-granting jewel (nyoi-hoju), and one of the left hands holds the stem of a lotus flower. The raised left arm has the wheel, representing the teachings of the Buddha, to be balanced on the upright finger, and the lowered right arm holds a rosary, to remove suffering.
Well-known large-scale statues of Nyoirin Kannon from the Kamakura period are in the Nara National Museum (dated 1275); Gangoji Temple, Nara (14th century); the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society, New York; and the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (13th century). For the Kannon in the Nara National Museum, see Katharine Epprecht, Kannon: Divine Compassion, Zurich, 2007, pl. 20. There is a bronze Nyoirin Kannon, 13th-14th century, measuring 9¼ x 4½ in. (23.5 x 15.2 cm.) in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture.
The small icon was possibly intended for private devotional use. It is enclosed in a black-lacquer shrine that has some age to it. Nothing is known of statue's provenance, but a document dated 1304 was allegedly found in the hollow interior when the current owner removed the head for purposes of conservation. Statues are often dismantled during necessary conservation work. The interior may prove to contain all sorts of sacred objects and votive offerings, as described by Helmut Brinker in "Anointing with Eyes, Raiment and Relic: Insights from the Cologne Jizo," Impressions, Journal of the Japanese Art Society of America, 34 (2013): 151-69 [
To reinforce the efficacy of a Buddhist icon, a variety of objects--precious relics, ritual implements, holy scriptures and printed images, printed magic spells, miniature figures of divinities, models of priests' robes, bronze mirrors, coins, musical instruments or even textile forms of human organs--were deposited in special cavities in the hollow interior of a sculpture, before the finishing touches and initial consecration.
The documents accompanying the Nyoirin Kannon are now mounted as two handscrolls. The first scroll includes woodblock-printed images of Nyoirin Kannon (1 image); Nyoirin Kannon and Monju Bosatsu (1); Monju Bosatsu (3); Eleven-headed Kannon (1); Jizo Bosatsu (1); and an ink drawing of Jizo Bosatsu with two tahoto pagodas.
The second scroll has three components. The first is a collection of various Shingon mantras, or magic spells. The second--of most importance to us--is a mantra titled "Fubo jobutsu shingon" (Mantra for the peace of father and mother), concluding with the following inscription:
Kagen ni nen shichi gatsu juichi hi (11th day of the 7th month of the second year of Kagen [1304]), Daisho Nyoirin Kannon omitai ni shu shu mono wo komuru tokoro nari (inserted various objects in the body of the holy Nyoirin Kannon). Kongo busshi Dokei Iyo kuni junin shonen yonjuichi (Kongo [honorific title] Buddhist sculptor Dokei living in Iyo province [Ehime Prefecture], age 41).
The third component of this scroll is the Heart Sutra (Hannya shingyo).
Kannon, the Japanese name for the Indian Buddhist deity Avalokiteshvara, is the bodhisattva of compassion. Because of the boundless love he offered to all beings, this was the most beloved of all the Buddhist deities throughout Asia. The Nyoirin Kannon, a prominent deity in the Japanese Esoteric Buddhist pantheon, is one of the six "changed forms" of Kannon, especially associated with the granting of desires. The deity derives his name from two of the objects he holds in his hands: the nyoi-hoju, or cintamani, a fabulous gem capable of responding to every wish; and the nyoi-rin, meaning "wheel," symbolizing the turning of the Wheel of the Law. It is common to find that the implements held in the hands are either missing or replaced with replicas.
Nyoirin Kannon was widely worshiped by those who hoped to gain riches and see their requests fulfilled. This gracious image shows the deity seated in a pose of "royal ease." Although drawings frequently depict this deity as a bodhisattva with two arms, the six-armed form was also popular in Japan. As in this sculpture, one hand is often shown touching the cheek, to represent Kannon pondering on how to save all sentient beings. The corresponding left arm is braced against the lotus pedestal, touching an imagined Mount Fudaraku, the Pure Land of Kannon, said to be in the Southern Seas. In paintings, the bodhisattva is shown seated on the craggy bluffs of Mount Fudaraka, looking out at the surrounding sea.
Of the other four arms, one of the right hands holds the wish-granting jewel (nyoi-hoju), and one of the left hands holds the stem of a lotus flower. The raised left arm has the wheel, representing the teachings of the Buddha, to be balanced on the upright finger, and the lowered right arm holds a rosary, to remove suffering.
Well-known large-scale statues of Nyoirin Kannon from the Kamakura period are in the Nara National Museum (dated 1275); Gangoji Temple, Nara (14th century); the John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection at Asia Society, New York; and the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (13th century). For the Kannon in the Nara National Museum, see Katharine Epprecht, Kannon: Divine Compassion, Zurich, 2007, pl. 20. There is a bronze Nyoirin Kannon, 13th-14th century, measuring 9¼ x 4½ in. (23.5 x 15.2 cm.) in the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Gift of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture.