NARA PERIOD (ABOUT AD770)

Details

A Fine Hyakumanto Pagoda with Associated Printed Dharani
Nara Period (About AD770)
A three-tier turned wood pagoda with detachable finial covering an interior cavity containing a block-printed dharani [charm] with the standard 31-column text of five characters per column, the pagoda with slight old damage and wear, the text with paper conservation
8½ in. (21.5cm.) high

Special notice

No VAT will be charged on the hammer price, but VAT at 17.5% will be added to the buyer's premium which is invoiced on a VAT inclusive basis

Lot Essay

This is one of one million miniature wooden pagodas commissioned by Empress Shotoku in gratittude for the suppresion of a rebellion by the Emi and in prayer for the future protection of the realm. Nine hundred thousand were distributed to temples throughout Japan and the remaining one hundred thousand to the Ten Great Temples in and around Nara (then the capital) but they have been dispersed over the centuries and today only the Horyuji retains some of its original allocation. The printed scrolls are the oldest datable examples of printing in existence, with the possible exception of a single earlier Korean contender; it remains uncertain, however, whether the blocks were of wood or metal.

A similar example sold in Christie's New York Rooms, 7 October 1988, Lot 52 (The Donald and Mary Hyde Collection).

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