Page 135 - Fine Japanese Art Bonhams London May 2018

This colourful, intricate icon by Sumiyoshi
Hirosada, a goyo eshi or official painter to
the Tokugawa shoguns, throws interesting
light on the late-Edo-period revival of interest
in medieval Buddhist painting. According
to the signature, it was copied from an
ancient original that Hirosada attributed to
the legendary master Fujiwara Nobuzane—
renowned as the pre-eminent court artist of
his time—none of whose autograph works
survive today. The lengthy inscriptions in
the margins include the information that the
original scroll copied here by Hirosada was
commissioned by the Hashimoto, a wealthy
family of Hamana in Totomi Province (present-
day Shizuoka Prefecture), as an offering in
hopes of their daughter’s recovery from a
serious illness; it was subsequently dedicated
at the Rurisan Daifukuji, a temple of the
Shingon sect in Hamamatsu, also in Totomi.

The iconography is based on the Daranihon,
Chapter 26 of the Hokkekyo (Lotus Sutra),
which describes Fugen’s appearance in the
east, surrounded by a multitude of deities.
For a surviving thirteenth-century version
of this subject, although with a less rigidly
symmetrical composition, compare a hanging
scroll in Nara National Museum (http://www.
narahaku.go.jp/english/collection/824-0.html).
As in the present scroll, the ten Rasetsunyo
are depicted as Japanese court ladies,
reflecting the popularity of the Lotus Sutra
among the late-Heian period female elite.

284 *
ARTIST UNKNOWN
Muromachi Period (1333-1573),
15th-16th century
Framed and glazed sonsho mandara, ink,
colours and gold on silk in silk mounts,
depicting 13 deities, in the centre Dainichi
Nyorai, the cosmic Buddha, surrounded by
eight bosatsu (bodhisattvas), below them
Fudo Myo-o and Jizo Bosatsu (taking the
place of Gosanze Myo-o as seen in earlier
mandara painting), above them Monju
Bosatsu holding a sword and another deity
to the right.
Overall: 159cm x 157.2cm (62½in x 61 7/8in);
image: 134cm x 48.5cm (52¾in x 19 1/16in).

£4,000 - 6,000
JPY600,000 - 910,000
US$5,700 - 8,500

Provenance
Stoclet collection, by repute.

284

For details of the charges payable in addition to the final Hammer Price of each Lot
please refer to paragraphs 7 & 8 of the Notice to Bidders at the back of the catalogue. FINE JAPANESE ART | 133