BackNo.78
JUNE 1938
This summary is compiled by Mr. TAKASHI KATSUKI.
SOME CHINESE REPOUSSE PLAQUES WITH BUDDHIST FIGURES
BY PROF. YUKIO YASHIRO
The production of the repousse plaque in copper was popular around the Hakuho Period in Japan and works of this kind as well as the models used for the purpese remain today. As for the Chinese examples, however, our knowledge was practically limited to documentary evidence until a few good examples were found by the present writer. One (Pl. VII) is owned by Mr. C. G. Winthrop of New York City and its beauty impressed the present writer on his visit to the collection.
On returning from abroad the writer saw another example (Pl. I) in Marquis Hosokawa's collection. which is exactly like that of Mr. Winthrop's, and which was bought from a Chinese art dealer when he touched at Yokohama en route to America, who, according to Marquis Hosokawa, is said to have told him that four pieces of the same kind were excavated together. It would be interesting to add that after this article was published the writer has found one more example of the kind, which he is going to publish sometime in the future, and if the tale of the Chinese dealer is true there is still one more example waiting for discovery.
Examination of the Hosokawa plaque shows small holes around the figures suggesting that the plaque was originally nailed to a piece of board. It is extremely difficult to name the Buddhistic figures on the plaque. as the Buddhistic iconography at that time in China had not then been established, but the present writer tentatively regards them as the Sakya triad judging from their general appearance.
The slender and linear representation of the figure together with the heavy lotus seat of the main figure is suggestive of the productions of the period between the end of the Sui Dynasties and the beginning of the Sui Dynasty (end of the sixth century A. D.). As is already mentioned above the present plaque corresponds almost exactly to that of Mr. Winthrop.
Accordingly, both plaques are understood to have been made from the same model, but they were beaten again freely without the model, in order to make the relief higher and more decisive, and then the decorative details were added to the surface with a burin. The beaten plaquettes produced in Japan were much simpler; they were worked out merely from a bronze model (Cut 2 on p. 6) by means of a thin copper-plate laid over and beaten.
Beside these, the writer mentions two plaques of the T'ang Period, which are most noteworthy both for technique and for artistic beauty. One was lately acquired by Mr. Kaichiro Nezu (Pls. II & VIII), and its brilliant gilding of the surface as well as the figures which are embossed two inches high is particularly remarkable. In this masterpiece of figures beaten into such high relief is shown an incredible dexterity in technique.
A careful examination reveals that Mr. Nezu's example was made, unlike those of Marquis Hosokawa and of Mr. Winthrop, without the use of a model, freely beaten out of a comparatively thick copper plate using a wonderfully skilful technique which is too elaborate to be summarised here.
It is a matter of conjecture as to where this special technique in beaten work was invented and when it was initiated in China. As the present example is the only one of its kind known to us the present writer imagines that it was brought to China from the West, either India or Persia. It certainily flourished in China during the T'ang Period, and although Japan was eager to absorb the continental culture this elaborate technique does not seem to have been successful in Japan.
As for the names of the Buddhistic figures on this plaque we encounter the same difficulties as in the foregoing example, but the present author, is inclined to regard them as Amitabha and his followers.
The plaque (Pl. IX) which formerly belonged to Mr. Sadajiro Kawai has another technical peculiarity. It seems to have been beaten out on a model and then the background of figures was perforated and removed. It is also attached with nails to a bronze plate, which might give some vague suggestion as to how such a Buddhistic plaque was used. Of the iconography of this plaque, the writer makes an attempt to identify the central figure under a large baldachian as Sakya in some episode of his life.
SCROLL PAINTINGS: THE KOBO DAISHI EDEN OF THE IKEDA FAMILY AND THE KOSO DAISHI HIMITSU ENGI
BY JIRO UMEZU
Among scroll paintings dealing with the lives of founders of various sects in Buddhism those of Kobo Daishi outnumber remaining examples. However, the date of their production dots not go back so far. The recent discovery of a scroll now treasured by Mr. Seihin Ikeda drew our special attention because not only does it belong to an entirely different type but also the date of production is surmised to be not later than the Kamakura Period. Studying the Kobo Daishi Eden scroll of the Ikeda family, the present writer discloses the nature of the same work which is a part of the Koso Daishi Himitsu Engi consisting of ten volumes; the significance of the latter, as a matter of fact, has long been neglected in Japanese art history.
A complete set of the Koso Daishi Himitsu Engi is now in the possession of Anrakuju-in temple in Kyoto and is provided with a postscript dated the second year of the Onin Era (1467). This cannot, of course, be considered an early example. The Ikeda scroll, however, exactly correspends, both in text and illustration, to volume seven of the Anrakuju-in scroll. The comparison of the contents of the two is as follows:
Section I II III IV V VI VII VIII
The Himitsu Engi T&I T&I T&I T&I T&I T&I T&I T&I
Section lV Missing I Missing II III III IV
The Ikeda scroll T Only T&I T&I I Only T Only T Only
T. ...Text I. ...Illustration.
I Kobo Daishi finishing up the sign board of the Otemmon gate.
II Kobo Daishi visiting the mausoleum of Shotoku Taishi.
III Huge bees surrendering to Kobo Daishi in the precinct of Todaiji.
IV Kobo Daishi giving an exegetical talk on the Dainichi sutra in Kumedera.
V Kobo Daishi informed on Mt. Koya by Koya Myojin impersonated by a hunter.
VI Kobo Daishi receiving information on Mt. Koya from Koya Myojin impersonated by an old man.
VII Nibu Myojin in human form dedicating the temple estate in Mt. Koya to Kobo Daishi.
VIII An illuminant three pronged vajra found on top of a pine-tree while Kobo Daishi was engaged in founding Koyasan Temple, which he is said to have thrown in the air on leaving China for Japan.
As seen above the Ikeda scroll consists of four sections, each provied with a text and the corresponding illustration, but their arrangement in the present scroll is so confused that the story of the subject can only be followed in order when the sections of the scroll are rearranged as shown before.
In view of this fact the Ikeda scroll is safely surmised to have originally been a set in ten volumes. As the same scroll is known to have been produced in the Kamakura Period, the Himitsu Engi scroll should have at least been compiled sometime during the same period. Furthermore, according to the preface found in the Anrakuju-in scroll the Himitsu Engi scroll was compiled about four hundred years after the death of Kobo Daishi; therefore, if this statement is correct, the date of compilation of the Himitsu Engi may be set around the Bun-ei (1264-1274) and Koan (1278-1287) Eras.
There is, however, another scroll with exactly the same preface, entitled the Kobo Daishi Gyojo-Zue in which also the life of Kobo Daishi is dealt with but the scroll is different in text and in illustration from that of Anrakuju-in.
Under these circumstances the present author attempts a meticulous comparison of the Anrakuju-in scroll and the Kobo Daishi Gyojo-Zue scroll pertaining particularly to the text and illustration. His study reveals to us that the compilation of the Kobo Daishi Gyojo-Zue was based on the Himitsu Engi scroll and the Kobo Daishi Gyojo-Zue of the Genno Era (1319-1320) which is different in text and in illustration from all others mentioned before. Taking all this into consideration the aforementioned preface belonged to the Himitsu Engi scroll, which later the former Gyojo-Zue scroll made use of. From these facts it is apparent to us that the compilation of the Himitsu Engi scroll was undoubtedly accomplished in the neighbourhood of the Bun-ei and Koan Eras and the introduction to the life of Kobo Daishi in the same work stands out in importance above all others.
The last point to be elucidated is whether the Ikeda scroll is the original produced when the Himitsu Engi was compiled or a copy of the later period. The answer seems to be indicated principally by means of the text as well as the style of painting. According to the present author, the date of the present scroll can be set around the Einin Era (1293-1298), i.e. it is safe not to set it back as early as the Bunei and Koan Eras. Therefore, the Ikeda scroll is considered to be a copy produced soon after the compilation of the original Himitsu Engi scroll.
The Himitsu Engi which is now partly represented by the Ikeda scroll is the oldest compiled production and the most important example among remaining works of its kind. The brisk description of the subject, using Chinese white predominantly, is outstanding in technique among scroll paintings of the day. Thus, speaking from the history of stylistic development, the Ikeda scroll is also of great value.
FURTHER NOTES ON THE WALL AND SCREEN PAINTINGS OF THE MOMOYAMA PERIOD
BY KISAKU TANAKA
The present writer who edited "The Corpus of the Wall and Screen Paintings of the Momoyama Period," published by our Institute in 1937, and wrote the introduction attached to it, received questionnaires from the readers regarding the analogous tendencies appearing in the indigenous paintings on a gold ground and similar works executed in new styles which were brought over from western Europe at the time. The present paper is an answer to those questions.
Since the arrival of Christianity in Japan in the Temmon Era (1532-1554) for the first time a good many religious paintings have been both imported and produced here. Unfortunately, most of them have been destroyed in the course of time but among those remaining today are found some examples painted on a gold ground. For example, the so-called "European Nobleman on Horseback" mounted as screens are, in two divisions, now treasured by Viscount Matsudaira and Mr. Hajime Ikenaga and which are thought to have been painted at the beginning of the mature stage of production of the religious paintings in Japan.
Among those engaged in the creation of paintings in the European style some Kano painters are thought to have been active and the Kano School was the center of production of wall and screen paintings. In view of these facts a question arises as to whether or not the technique employed in any works of the kind where the objects are painted on a gold ground influenced the wall and screen paintings a great deal which later reached a brilliant stage of development.
This question, however, cannot be affirmed as entirely true although they might have influenced each other to a certain degree, according to the present writer. This is attested to by the facts, speaking from the ground of those in European style, that there is no example of this kind of pure religious painting although European style paintings are believed to have been imported when Christianity found its way to this country; that not only is any document dealing with paintings of the kind unknown but those works, as a matter of fact, are looked on with astonishment by foreigners arriving at that time. Techniques employed in these kinds of paintings--European and Japanese--are quite different, that is, the European has a ground prepared with red pigment underneath a gold layer but the Japanese was never prepared this way. These facts are not sufficient to consider them the prototypes of the Japanese works.
The records on Japanese wall and screen paintings executed on a gold ground relate that this kind of technique was employed as early as the beginning of the Ashikaga Period and the spreading of the same method is traced quite naturally. This point the present author already elucidated in the introductory note to "The Corpus of the Wall and Screen Paintings of the Momoyama Period."
Furthermore, the people's interest in the use of gold was augmented a great deal following the opening of the Ashikaga Period, together with the exploitation of gold in this country.
Thus our discussion finally comes to the conclusion that the European style paintings done on a gold ground and the Japanese works of the kind must have belonged to different schools, while the former appeared when the latter was in the course of development.
EXPLANATION OF THE PLATES
Pl. I (Color) Plaque with Nine Buddhistic Figures.
Hammered and gilt copper-plate.
Height: 15.4 cm.; width: 15.2 cm.
Collection of Marquis Hosokawa, Tokyo.
(See the article by Prof. Yashiro)
Pls. II & VIII Plaque with Seven Buddhistic Figures.
Hammered and gilt copper-plate.
Height: 22.4 cm.; width: 18.8 cm.
Collection of Mr. Kaichiro Nezu, Tokyo.
(See the article by Prof. Yashiro)
Pls. III, IV, X & XI Scroll Painting Kobo Daishi Eden.
Color on paper.
Length: 503.8 cm; width: 34.7 cm.
Collection of Mr. Seihin Ikeda, Tokyo.
(See the article by Jiro Umezu)
Pls. V & VI European Nobleman on Horseback.
Color on paper.
Pair. Framed.
Height: 58.8 cm.; width: 60.6 cm., each.
Collection of Mr. Takeshi Suetsugu, Kyoto.
(Cf. the article by Kisaku Tanaka)
The present works although small in size are admirable pieces among those in the so-called early European style produced not later than the Keicho Era (1596-1614). A close examination of the works reveals that the contour of the objects is originally drawn in ink and the native pigments mixed in a specially prepared solution after the technique of oil painting. They were obviously done by a Japanese artist and the style resembles quite closely those of the same title, now owned by Viscount Matsudaira and Mr. Hajime Ikenaga, respectively, suggesting that they were probably painted by the same artist. The present works are known to be parts of the original which consisted of four parts at least.
The readers are requested to refer to the article by Mr. Kisaku Tanaka, appearing in the present number of the Bijutsu Kenkyu in which he discloses recent studies on works of this kind.
Pl. VII Plaque with Nine Buddhistic Figures.
Hammered and gilt copper plate.
Height: 15.4 cm.; width: 15.2 cm.
Collection of Mr. C. G. Winthrop, New York City.
(See the article by Prof. Yashiro)
Pl. IX Plaque with Seventeen Buddhistic Figures.
Hammered and gilt copper-plate.
Height: 18.5 cm.; width: 12.5 cm.
Formerly in the Collcetion of Mr. Sadajiro Kawai, Kyoto.