A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)
A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)
A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)
1 More
A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)
4 More
A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)

KAMAKURA PERIOD (13TH-14TH CENTURY)

Details
A BRONZE SCULPTURE OF AMIDA NYORAI (AMITABHA)
KAMAKURA PERIOD (13TH-14TH CENTURY)
Cast in several sections and modeled as the Amitabha Buddha standing, the hair arranged in small, snail-shaped spiral curls (rahotsu), the drapery of the robe cast in elegant pleats falling from the shoulders to the lap and pooling across the legs, the original hands now missing
8 in. (20.3 cm.) high

Brought to you by

Takaaki Murakami (村上高明)
Takaaki Murakami (村上高明) Vice President, Specialist and Head of Department | Korean Art

Lot Essay

The sculpture represents Amitabha, known in Japanese as Amida Nyorai, Buddha of Infinite Light. The Pure Land (Jodo) tradition in Japan emphasizes the salvific powers of Amida; incantation of the Buddha’s name can invite divine intercession and devotion in life can insure rebirth in Amida’s Western Paradise. By the early eleventh century, it was increasingly believed that only the compassion of Amida could override the cycle of rise, decline and fall––the concept of mappo, meaning the end of the Law that would devolve into ten millennia of moral degradation and strife. By Japanese calculation, this would coincide with the year 1052. Devotees among the upper classes commissioned sculptures and paintings showing the arrival of Amida and attendants to welcome the spirits of the dying. Given its scale, it is likely that the figure here graced a private altar.
The figure exudes an elegant serenity characteristic of the sculptural treatments of the late 12th-13th century. Amida’s divinity is emphasized by gentle idealization. The figure is slender and delicate with robes carved in rhythmic folds.
The absence of both hands exposes the refined joinery typical of Kamakura-period bronze sculpture, in which individual parts were cast separately and assembled with smooth, nearly invisible joints.

More from Japanese and Korean Art

View All
View All