Buddhist scriptures—transcribed in glittering gold and silver pigments on indigo-dyed papers and featuring elaborate frontispieces, or as here, in ink on gorgeously decorated papers—attest to the importance placed on the brush-written word. It was believed that copying sutras or having them copied would bestow religious merit, and therefore no expense was spared in creating gorgeous editions of them. This five-line segment of a sumptuous handscroll of the Lotus Sutra embodies the aesthetics and religious practice of the late Heian period. The excerpt is from Chapter 19, “Benefits of the Teacher of the Law,” which promises that believers who accept the teachings of the sutra will be able to perfect their faculty of smell so that they can distinguish the different fragrances of heavenly beings and realms.
On view from March 4–June 16, 2019.
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伝九条兼実書 『妙法蓮華経』 法師功徳品第十九の内
Title:Segment of Chapter 19 of the Lotus Sutra
Artist:Attributed to Kujō Kanezane (Japanese, 1149–1207)
Period:Heian period (794–1185)
Date:late 12th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Handscroll section mounted as a hanging scroll; ink on colored paper decorated with cut gold (kirikane), sprinkled gold (sunago), and silver leaf
Dimensions:10 x 3 9/16 in. (25.4 x 9.1 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 1990
Accession Number:1990.116
[ Sugimoto Works of Art , New York, until 1990; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan," 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Enlightening Pursuits," February 28–August 5, 2001.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Graceful Gestures: A Decade of Collecting Japanese Art," September 29, 2001–March 10, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan II," March 22–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Birds, Flowers, and Buddhist Paradise Imagery in Japanese Art," February 14–June 13, 2004.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Spring and Summer," December 17, 2005–June 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Graceful Gestures: Two Decades of Collecting Japanese Art," 2007.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Drama of Eyes and Hands: Sharaku's Portraits of Kabuki Actors," September 20, 2007–March 24, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Brush Writing in the Arts of Japan," August 17, 2013–January 12, 2014.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated," March 5–June 16, 2019.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art," April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.
Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所, ed. Nyūyōku Metoroporitan Bijutsukan, kaiga, chōkoku ニューヨークメトロポリタン美術館，絵画・彫刻 (Painting and sculpture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Kaigai shozai Nihon bijutsuhin chōsa hōkoku 海外所在日本美術品調查報告 (Catalogue of Japanese art in foreign collections) 1. Tokyo: Kobunkazai Kagaku Kenkyūkai, 1991, p. 18, cat. no. 53.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 1985–2007. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, pp. 13, 38.
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