拍品 49
49
A Wood Pagoda from the set of "One Million Pagodas" (Hyakuman to)
PROPERTY FROM THE WALTER AND PHYLLIS SHORENSTEIN COLLECTION
A Wood Pagoda from the set of "One Million Pagodas" (Hyakuman to)

NARA PERIOD (764-70)

細節
A Wood Pagoda from the set of "One Million Pagodas" (Hyakuman to)
Nara period (764-70)
A tiered wood pagoda with detachable finial opening to the interior hole for the block-printed dharani charm now mounted on paper; with traces of white gesso
8½in. (21.6cm.) high

榮譽呈獻

Heakyum Kim
Heakyum Kim
+ 1 212 636 2164

拍品專文

This is one of one million miniature wooden pagodas commissioned by Empress Shotoku (718-770) in gratitude for the suppression 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). They have been dispersed over the centuries and today only the Horyuji retains some of its original allocation. The tiny 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.