.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
Published:
Howard A. Link, ed., Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu's Oriental Art Society, exh. cat. (Honolulu: Oriental Art Society of Hawaii and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1985), p. 116, no. 65.
Dainichi Nyorai, the supreme Buddha of the esoteric pantheon, is classified as a Buddha, but is presented here as a bodhisattva in princely regalia. He sits in lotus position, with hair piled in a high top-knot and wearing the crown and jewelry of royalty. The deity forms a distinctive hand gesture, or mudra, called "knowledge fist": his left hand forms a fist with index finger pointing up and grasped by his right hand. Transparent, crystal eyes, the pupils painted in black, were introduced at the end of the twelfth century in keeping with a new search for realism.
Howard A. Link, ed., Asian Orientations: Treasures from Honolulu's Oriental Art Society, exh. cat. (Honolulu: Oriental Art Society of Hawaii and the Honolulu Academy of Arts, 1985), p. 116, no. 65.
Dainichi Nyorai, the supreme Buddha of the esoteric pantheon, is classified as a Buddha, but is presented here as a bodhisattva in princely regalia. He sits in lotus position, with hair piled in a high top-knot and wearing the crown and jewelry of royalty. The deity forms a distinctive hand gesture, or mudra, called "knowledge fist": his left hand forms a fist with index finger pointing up and grasped by his right hand. Transparent, crystal eyes, the pupils painted in black, were introduced at the end of the twelfth century in keeping with a new search for realism.