Box

China

Qing dynasty (1644-1912), About 1850

  • Titles Box (Descriptive)
  • Artist China
  • Medium jade
  • Dimensions 1 1/8 × 1 3/4 in. Diam. (2.9 × 4.4 cm)
  • Credit Line Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Catherine H. Collins Collection, AFI.578.1998a-b
  • Work Type box with cover
  • Classification Containers

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Pensive Bodhisattva Seated in Arch Decorated with Custard Apples and Bird Heads with two floral-garland bearing attendants
This stout standing figure retains trases of green and white paint. His legs splayed sighlyt to support his stocky aspect, his arms are bent at the elbows with the proper right hand resting on top of the the left fist. His trousers and sleeves are flared in a dynamic movement. His upstanding hairstyle is typical of fierce, protective figures and a small coiled snake rests between his locks. His head is turned to the proper left. He wears a cloud colar and high boots.
Basket with Fruit and Vegetables, Tomioka Tessai, ink and color on silk
the standing Buddha Amida accompanied by a choir of 25 celestial attendants--flanked by Kannon and Seishi to welcome a dying individual to the Western Paradise—a Buddhist Pure Land where all will eventually attain enlightenment. The dynamic composition and large scale of the shrine (zushi) bring the full power of loving welcome to console the dying. This format became so popular it has its own name, raigō, denoting a welcoming descent. Two small sculptures of monks are placed on clouds in the interior, close to Amida. The gradient shading of gold on the left figure’s clothing signals this is Zendō (Ch. Shandao; 613–81), a 7th century Chinese monk, whose teachings were revived by the Japanese monk Hōnen Shonin Eden (1133–1212) as part of his founding of the Jōdo religious order. Hōnen is most likely the monk depicted on the right. The transmission of teachings across time and space from the 7th to the 12th century demonstrated in this shrine.