Rug

China

Late 19th century

  • Titles Rug (Descriptive)
  • Artist China
  • Medium silk, gold thread
  • Dimensions 85 1/2 x 47 1/2 in. (217.2 x 120.7 cm)
  • Credit Line Gift of Coleman Cooper, Palm Beach, Florida, 1985.80
  • Work Type rug
  • Classification Rugs

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Chinese export ware teapot with cover and stand, underglaze blue landscape design
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.
Dish with two dragons chasing a flaming pearl decoration
Actor Ichigawa Kuzō II as Senzaki Yagorō, Utagawa Kunisada, ink and color on paper