Page 88 - Bonhams September 11 2018 New York Japanese & Korean Works of Art

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ANONYMOUS The best-known and earliest Japanese image of Gakko Bosatsu
Gakko Bosatsu, Muromachi period (1333-1573), 15th/16th is an eight-century painted clay sculpture in the Sangatsudo, a
century structure within the precincts of the great Todaiji Temple in Nara,
Hanging scroll, ink, color, and gold on silk in silk mounts, depicting Japan’s ancient capital. Gakko Bosatsu is regularly paired with Nikko
Gakko Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of Moon-Radiance, standing on Bosatsu, the Bodhisattva of Solar Radiance, and the two often
a lotus dais in flowing scarves and holding a gatsurin (lunar disc) in appear as attendants to Yakushi Nyorai, the Medicine-Buddha of
his left hand, inside which stands a white hare, a flaming mandorla future times; the present lot likely once formed part of a triad made
frames the deity’s head up of the three deities. Preserving the serenity of the early sculptural
With a double wood storage box version and the elegance of later painted icons of Gakko, this
34 3/4 x 15 1/2in (88.3 x 39.4cm) hanging scroll shows the bodhisattva holding in his left hand a moon
disk bearing an image of a hare pounding rice in a mortar, reflecting
$12,000 - 18,000 an association with its roots in ancient Chinese mythology.

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