Page 31 - 2021 March 17th Japanese and Korean Art, Bonhams NYC New York

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A RARE AND IMPORTANT MODEL OF A CELESTIAL MUSICIAN The Kondo (Golden Hall) of Horyuji Temple near Nara, Japan’s ancient
FROM THE HORYUJI TEMPLE capital, houses three important statues: the Shaka Triad, the Yakushi Nyorai,
Asuka period (538-710), 7th century and the Amida Buddha, each of them placed under an elaborate jeweled
Decorated in polychrome pigments, ink, and gesso over camphor wood, canopy with tennin (Sanskrit: apsara, celestial musicians) attached to its rim.
the figure carved from a single block, shown kneeling on a lotus platform During recent restoration work the bore holes on the edges of the canopies
holding a biwa (lute), framed by an elaborate floral nimbus, the lotus petals that would have held the musicians in place were counted and it is currently
of the pedestal each individually carved and inserted into the core, the estimated that there were 24 figures on each. This figure appears to have
nimbus carved from a single sheet of camphor wood been part of a group that was attached to either the eastern or the central
13 1/4in (33.6cm) high overall canopy, both of which were erected during reconstruction following a fire
in 670. All the figures of Nara-period manufacture were carved from single
$35,000 - 50,000 blocks of cypress wood and decorated in ink, vermilion, cinnabar, red ochre,
and malachite and, like the present lot, most of them carry instruments such
as flutes, drums, cymbals, or biwa. For a similar example from the Horyuji
group now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, see Mayuyama
Junkichi, ed., Japanese Art in the West, Tokyo, Mayuyama, 1966, no. 1;
and for another example still in the collection of Horyuji Temple, see Kurata
Bunsaku, Horyu-ji: Temple of the Exalted Law, Early Buddhist Art from
Japan, New York, Japan Society, 1981, cat. no. 12.

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