Page 90 - Bonhams Image of Devotion Hong Kong December 2, 2021

1037
A SCROLL PAINTING OF THE DEATH OF THE HISTORICAL
BUDDHA (NEHAN-ZU)
JAPAN, MID EDO PERIOD, DATED 1727
Ink and colors on silk, with later silks mounts; verso and storage box with
commemorative inscriptions.
Image: 72 x 116 cm (28 3/8 x 45 5/8 in.);
With Silks: 90 x 178 cm (35 3/8 x 70 1/8 in.)

HKD150,000 - 200,000

日本 江戶中期 1727年 佛陀涅槃圖立軸

Surrounded by a host of mourning gods, mortals, animals, and mythic
beings, Buddha releases his final breath and blissfully transcends the
cycle of death, rebirth, and suffering. The commemoration of Buddha’s
parinirvana is one of the most spiritually profound events in the Japanese
Buddhist calendar, occurring each year on the 15th day of the second lunar
month. Painted depictions such as this are central to the annual rite and
are known from at least the Nara period (710-914). A 15th-century example
in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (44.35.1) displays a similar composition.
Similar paintings from the Edo period were sold at Sotheby’s, New York, 16
September 2009, lot 128, and Christie’s, 16 September 2003, lot 176.

According to this painting’s inscriptions, it was completed in 1727 and
donated by a Kawai Hachiroemon in memory of his mother and remounted
in 1883 by a descendant. Inscribed on the wood storage box is a third
date, stating that the work was again remounted in the 14th year of the
Taisho era (1925).

Provenance
Kawai Hachiroemon, 1727
Thence by descent until at least 1833
Private Kyoto Collection

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