Harvard Art Museums / Fogg Museum | Busch-Reisinger Museum | Arthur M. Sackler Museum

Crafted for Japanese Buddhist image halls of the Heian (794–1185) and Kamakura (1185–1333) periods, the objects in this case were once part of magnificent architectural and sculptural ensembles intended to render the Western Pure Land of the Buddha Amitabha physically present in our earthly realm. To be reborn in the Western Pure Land guaranteed the attainment of awakening; the splendors of this distant land were evoked with gleaming, gilded sculptures of Amitabha and his heavenly entourage, including bodhisattvas and angel-like apsarases. Icons of Amitabha were further canopied with stylized flower garlands in gilt bronze.

This period saw the rise to prominence of wooden statuary, which came to surpass bronze as the main material for Japanese Buddhist sculptures thereafter. Placed within the magnificent settings of image halls, Buddhist sculptures themselves became increasingly decorative and included the extensive use of brilliant polychromy; cut-gold leaf patterning (called kirikane) in the drapery; and metal adornments for crowns, headdresses, and accessories. Despite the richness of their robes and settings, the idealized facial expressions of the figures are serene and introspective — characteristics that reflect the aesthetic ideals of the statues’ courtly patrons.

Object Number

124.1979

Title

Virūdhaka (Zōchōten), Guardian King of the South, one of the Devarājas (Shitennō), or Four Heavenly Guardian Kings

Other Titles

Transliterated Title: Shitennō (Devarājas): Zōchōten (Virūdhaka)

Classification

Sculpture

Work Type

sculpture, figure

Date

Heian period, c. 1075

Places

Creation Place: East Asia, Japan

Period

Heian period, Late, 898-1185

Culture

Japanese

Persistent Link

https://hvrd.art/o/210620

Medium

Wood with traces of polychromy and gilding

Dimensions

H. 69.7 x W. 30.4 x D. 15.5 cm (27 7/16 x 11 15/16 x 6 1/8 in.)

Credit Line

Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Promised gift of Walter C. Sedgwick in memory of Elizabeth Sedgwick and Marjorie Sedgwick

Accession Year

2006

Object Number

124.1979

Division

Asian and Mediterranean Art

Contact

am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu

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Dorinda Neave, Lara Blanchard, and Marika Sardar, Asian Art, Pearson Education, Inc. (Boston, MA, 2015), p. 329, ill. 14-6

Later Chinese and Japanese Figure Painting in Decorative Arts, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/22/1992 - 06/07/1992

Japanese Art of the Heian Period (794-1185), Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 06/06/2002 - 07/05/2002

32Q: 2740 Buddhist II, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Collection Highlights

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu