Page 23 - japanese and korean art Utterberg Collection Christie's March 22 2022

涅槃寂静 | THE COLLECTION OF DAVID AND NAYDA UTTERBERG (LOTs 1-20)

4
ANONYMOUS (JAPAN, LATE 13TH-EARLY 14TH CENTURY)
Miroku Bosatsu (Bodhisattva Maitreya) in Welcoming Descent

Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold and gold leaf on silk
33¡ x 14¿ in. (84.8 x 35.9 cm.)
Inscription attributed to Emperor Fushimi

$300,000-400,000

弥勒菩薩来迎図 伝伏見天皇勅題

PROVENANCE:
Hoju-in Temple, Nara
Okabe Shun’ichi, Kyoto
Hosomi Ryo (1901-1979), founder of the collection in the Hosomi
Museum, Kyoto
Leighton R. Longhi, New York, 10 Nov. 1990
LITERATURE:
Leighton R. Longhi, Forty-five Years in Asian Art (New York:
privately published, 2019), pl. 7
Kokka 766 (Jan. 1956), pl. 5

The inscription on top is believed to be by Emperor Fushimi
(1265–1317), who reigned from 1287 to 1298, based on
comparisons with other examples of his writing. The date of the
painting is thought to be around 1313, when Fushimi took the
tonsure and became a Buddhist monk. The text reads from right
to left and consists of three Buddhist ceremonial chants invoking
Miroku 弥勒講式 (Miroku koshiki), written by the famous Hosso-
sect monk Jokei (1155–1225). In 1192, Jokei moved to Kasagidera,
outside Nara, known for Miroku worship because of the massive
image of Miroku carved into a nearby cliff. Earlier, he resided at
Hokuendo within Kofuku-ji, Nara, where Miroku was the primary
image.
The literary genre known as koshiki was popular during the late
Heian and early Kamakura period. Koshiki, translated by one scholar
as “Buddhist ceremonials,” are liturgical texts that, by promoting
devotion to a particular buddha, bodhisattva, or patriarch, seek to
generate a karmic link (kechien 結縁) between the ritual participants
and the object of devotion. Practitioners, in this case perhaps
including Emperor Fushimi, who may have inscribed the koshiki
on this painting, would gather in groups of ten or twelve to recite
the text before the image, whether a painting or a sculpture. These
gatherings were important sources of fundraising, as well.