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Lot Essay
Acquired by Sam Josefowitz in 1962, and most recently on long term loan at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the present lot is one of the most significant early Japanese sculptures to come to auction in a generation. That the name of its sculptor – Intan – is identified underscores its clear art historical importance; there are few extant sculptures that date from this period whose origins are known today and which remain in private collections. The survival of such a finely and intricately carved and decorated wooden sculpture over more than seven centuries is a testament to its undisputed importance.
A WOOD SCULPTURE OF A STANDING JIZO BOSATSU (BODHISATTVA KSHITIGARBHA) by Julia Meech
The bodhisattva Jizo is worshipped as a saviour who will wander through the six realms of rebirth to save beings – gods, titans, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and those in hell. Famous for saving the dead from the Buddhist hells, the merciful and compassionate Jizo appears as a gentle, youthful monk, with a shaved head and wearing a patchwork surplice (kesa) over his robe. He holds a monk’s staff (shakujo) in his right hand. In his left is the jewel of wisdom that grants all wishes. His divinity is indicated by his long earlobes and the urna on his forehead.
In the present work, Jizo tilts his head down, as though in welcoming descent. As Hank Glassman has written in his study of Jizo, by the 13th century, under the influence of a Buddhist theory of decline (mappō) and notions about the diminishment of human capacities, there came to be a trend in Japan toward more streamlined or selective practices aimed at efficient paths to salvation. And so there emerged an enthusiasm for the exclusive worship of one deity over others, that is, the adoption of a personal savior. The iconography of welcoming descent came to be employed for the representation of certain bodhisattvas as sole individuals – especially Jizō and Kannon, but also Fugen and others. By the late Kamakura period, representation of Jizō in solitary welcoming descent, or Jizō dokuson raigō, became very popular in Nara, the former capital to the south of Kyoto, through the dedication of monks of the powerful Kōfukuji, the family temple of the Fujiwara. All activities of the temple were closely intertwined with its partner Shintō institution, the Kasuga Shrine.
Who was Intan, the sculptor? By the end of the 13th century, there was a lot of borrowing of characters back and forth for names. “In” implies In school, and “tan” implies a Tankei connection. Tankei was a sculptor of the Kei school, which flourished in the Kamakura period; he was the student of and eldest son of the master sculptor Unkei. Small round heads with delicate features are characteristic of late-13th-century sculpture, regardless of school. Increasingly there were fewer stylistic distinctions among In, En and Kei school sculptors. While the Kei school is well known and has received the most attention, the Josefowitz statue will spur a revival of interest in the In school (Inpa). For a Jizo by Kaikei, see the example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated circa 1225-1226 (2015.33.25a, b). For further comparison, there is an example of a Jizo Bosatsu by Zen’en of the En school, dated circa 1252, and commissioned by monks at Kofukuiji Temple, Nara, in the Rockefeller Collection at Asia Society, New York.
We know very little about Intan. Two other sculptures are associated with him. In 1294 (Ei’nin 2. 9.24), he was one of three In-school sculptors who carved another statue of Jizo, a seated figure, for the Joki-in temple on Mount Koya, south of Osaka, now designated an Important Cultural Property. The inscription on the Joki-in statue indicates that Inshu, who had the rank of Hoin, had three assistants working on that piece: Intan and Insho, both with the rank of Hogen, and Inryo, with the rank of Hokkyo. 大仏師法印院修作者、法眼院湛、法眼院昌、法橋院亮、永仁二年甲午九月二十四日
The name Intan appears in a statue traditionally said to be Gūze Kannon at Akishinodera, an eighth-century temple in Nara with a Kamakura-period main hall registered as a National Treasure.
The name of the patron in the inscription is ‘Kyōganbō Daisōzu [Senior high priest] Rin’ei’. A monk of the same name was involved in an event in 1308 in which sacred wood of Kasuga was taken to Kyoto, the capital. Thus, the two are probably the same person. Likely he was a monk at Kōfukuji Temple, Nara. The name of the other patron, Jitsu’ei Enshunbō – because he shares the same “ei” character as Rin’ei – was probably a Kōfukuji monk, as well.
Sam Josefowitz visited Japan at least twice in the early 1960s, purchasing several Japanese statues, including the Jizo offered here, from premier galleries in Tokyo. The dealer who sold the Jizo was Inosuke Setsu. Setsu loved antiques and created one of the leading art businesses in Japan in a single generation. He purchased many works from the family of Takashi Masuda, the famous collector and entrepreneur who was the first director of the Mitsui Trading Company. Setsu had exceptional collectors as clients – people who were at the forefront of Japan’s economic world, as well as American clients, including Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Setsu’s receipt for payment for this Jizo is dated 8 January 1962, addressed to Sam in Manhattan. In Japan, Sam relied on the connoisseurship and advice of the American collector/dealer Harry G. C. Packard, who lived in Tokyo. In 1975, Packard sold his own collection of over 400 Japanese works of art to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A WOOD SCULPTURE OF A STANDING JIZO BOSATSU (BODHISATTVA KSHITIGARBHA) by Julia Meech
The bodhisattva Jizo is worshipped as a saviour who will wander through the six realms of rebirth to save beings – gods, titans, humans, animals, hungry ghosts and those in hell. Famous for saving the dead from the Buddhist hells, the merciful and compassionate Jizo appears as a gentle, youthful monk, with a shaved head and wearing a patchwork surplice (kesa) over his robe. He holds a monk’s staff (shakujo) in his right hand. In his left is the jewel of wisdom that grants all wishes. His divinity is indicated by his long earlobes and the urna on his forehead.
In the present work, Jizo tilts his head down, as though in welcoming descent. As Hank Glassman has written in his study of Jizo, by the 13th century, under the influence of a Buddhist theory of decline (mappō) and notions about the diminishment of human capacities, there came to be a trend in Japan toward more streamlined or selective practices aimed at efficient paths to salvation. And so there emerged an enthusiasm for the exclusive worship of one deity over others, that is, the adoption of a personal savior. The iconography of welcoming descent came to be employed for the representation of certain bodhisattvas as sole individuals – especially Jizō and Kannon, but also Fugen and others. By the late Kamakura period, representation of Jizō in solitary welcoming descent, or Jizō dokuson raigō, became very popular in Nara, the former capital to the south of Kyoto, through the dedication of monks of the powerful Kōfukuji, the family temple of the Fujiwara. All activities of the temple were closely intertwined with its partner Shintō institution, the Kasuga Shrine.
Who was Intan, the sculptor? By the end of the 13th century, there was a lot of borrowing of characters back and forth for names. “In” implies In school, and “tan” implies a Tankei connection. Tankei was a sculptor of the Kei school, which flourished in the Kamakura period; he was the student of and eldest son of the master sculptor Unkei. Small round heads with delicate features are characteristic of late-13th-century sculpture, regardless of school. Increasingly there were fewer stylistic distinctions among In, En and Kei school sculptors. While the Kei school is well known and has received the most attention, the Josefowitz statue will spur a revival of interest in the In school (Inpa). For a Jizo by Kaikei, see the example in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, dated circa 1225-1226 (2015.33.25a, b). For further comparison, there is an example of a Jizo Bosatsu by Zen’en of the En school, dated circa 1252, and commissioned by monks at Kofukuiji Temple, Nara, in the Rockefeller Collection at Asia Society, New York.
We know very little about Intan. Two other sculptures are associated with him. In 1294 (Ei’nin 2. 9.24), he was one of three In-school sculptors who carved another statue of Jizo, a seated figure, for the Joki-in temple on Mount Koya, south of Osaka, now designated an Important Cultural Property. The inscription on the Joki-in statue indicates that Inshu, who had the rank of Hoin, had three assistants working on that piece: Intan and Insho, both with the rank of Hogen, and Inryo, with the rank of Hokkyo. 大仏師法印院修作者、法眼院湛、法眼院昌、法橋院亮、永仁二年甲午九月二十四日
The name Intan appears in a statue traditionally said to be Gūze Kannon at Akishinodera, an eighth-century temple in Nara with a Kamakura-period main hall registered as a National Treasure.
The name of the patron in the inscription is ‘Kyōganbō Daisōzu [Senior high priest] Rin’ei’. A monk of the same name was involved in an event in 1308 in which sacred wood of Kasuga was taken to Kyoto, the capital. Thus, the two are probably the same person. Likely he was a monk at Kōfukuji Temple, Nara. The name of the other patron, Jitsu’ei Enshunbō – because he shares the same “ei” character as Rin’ei – was probably a Kōfukuji monk, as well.
Sam Josefowitz visited Japan at least twice in the early 1960s, purchasing several Japanese statues, including the Jizo offered here, from premier galleries in Tokyo. The dealer who sold the Jizo was Inosuke Setsu. Setsu loved antiques and created one of the leading art businesses in Japan in a single generation. He purchased many works from the family of Takashi Masuda, the famous collector and entrepreneur who was the first director of the Mitsui Trading Company. Setsu had exceptional collectors as clients – people who were at the forefront of Japan’s economic world, as well as American clients, including Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Setsu’s receipt for payment for this Jizo is dated 8 January 1962, addressed to Sam in Manhattan. In Japan, Sam relied on the connoisseurship and advice of the American collector/dealer Harry G. C. Packard, who lived in Tokyo. In 1975, Packard sold his own collection of over 400 Japanese works of art to The Metropolitan Museum of Art.