A carved wood figure of a standing Prince Shotoku Taishi

Muromachi period (15th - 16th century)

Details

A carved wood figure of a standing Prince Shotoku Taishi
Muromachi period (15th - 16th century)
Carved from cypress wood in single-block technique (ichiboku-zukuri) as a standing Shotoku Taishi, the figure dressed in loose robe and trousers, set on a carved-wood stand
23 5/8 in. (60 cm.) high including the stand

Provenance

Marion Hammer Inc., 28 October 1970
Dr. Robert and Bernice Dickes, New York

Literature

Donald Jenkins, ed., Masterworks in Wood: China and Japan (Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1976), pl. 58.

Exhibited

"Masterworks in Wood: China and Japan," Portland Art Museum, Portland, 4 Nov-5 Dec, 1976 and Asia House Gallery, New York, 13 Jan-20 March, 1977
"A Family Album: Brooklyn Collects," Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York, 2 March - 1 July 2001

Lot Essay

The figure represents Prince Shotoku Taishi (574-622), revered as Japan’s patron of Buddhism during the early years, and later venerated as a reincarnation of the Buddha Shakyamuni or the Bodhisattva Kannon. Here may be the image of The sixteen-year-old Shotoku Taishi, originally holding a censer in his hands, taking part in rites for the recovery of his father and his hair hanging down.

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