Collection Highlights: Japanese Art
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Bodhisattvaearly 13th century
Kaikei, (Japanese, active ca. 1185 - 1220)
Kamakura period
Wood with lacquer, gold, copper, and crystal
H: 62.8 W: 43.2 cm
Japan
Gift of Charles Lang Freer F1909.345
Recent scholarship associates this sculpture of a bodhisattva (enlightened being) with Kaikei (fl. 1180–1220), a master sculptor who contributed to the revival of Buddhist sculpture in the Kamakura period (1185–1333). Proportion and balance in the figure, realistic yet sensitive modeling of the facial features, and graceful, regular arrangement of the garment folds are marks of Kaikei's style.
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Page from the Ishiyama-gire (dispersed volumes of the Anthology of the Thirty-Six Poets) Poet: Ki no Tsurayukiearly 12th century
Heian period
Album leaf; ink on assembled dyed paper decorated with silver and gold
H: 21.2 W: 16.1 cm
Japan
Purchase F1969.4
Two poems of mourning for a friend who has died are written in the elegant Japanese phonetic script known as hiragana. The papers of three colors are joined at the edges and embellished in silver with scattered plants and insects. This page belongs to one of the dispersed volumes called "Ishiyama-gire" from a lavishly decorated Anthology of Thirty-Six Poets. These two verses were composed by Ki no Tsurayuki (872?-ca. 946). Beginning from the right, in three lines, the first poem reads: "A beloved friend whom I met until yesterday is gone today, swept away like mountain clouds." The following verse continues the thought: "How tragic that although we live, whatever we have will surely die."
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