Miracles performed by the bodhisattva Jizo (copy of a section of a handscroll)

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Maker(s)
Artist: Kano Tan'yū 狩野探幽 (1602-1674)
Historical period(s)
Edo period, 1627
Medium
Ink and color
Dimensions
H x W: 125 x 13.3 cm (49 3/16 x 5 1/4 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Gift of Charles Lang Freer
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1907.375b
On View Location
Currently not on view
Classification(s)
Painting
Type

Handscroll

Keywords
bodhisattva, Buddhism, Edo period (1615 - 1868), Japan, miracle
Provenance

From 1907 to 1919
Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased through Samurai Shokai, Yokohama, Japan, in 1907 [2]

From 1920
Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

Notes:

[1] See Original Makimono List, L. 601, pg. 159, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. See Purchase Details in Accession List, Collections Management Office, which states: "Through Samurai Shokai - during oriental trip 1906-1907." Samurai Shokai was the shop of Nomura Yozo, a dealer who acted as Charles Lang Freer's agent in Japan.

[2] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Charles Lang Freer 1854-1919
Samurai Shokai (C.L. Freer source) founded 1894

Label

This early narrative handscroll (emakimono) depicts miraculous stories of the compassionate bodhisattva Jizo (Kshitigarbha), a Buddhist deity worshipped as a savior of those condemned to hell. With the scroll, Freer acquired a final copy of the section, done in 1627 by Kano Tan'yu. The copy shows text that was later lost from the original scroll. Freer’s acquisition of such copies and preliminary drawings, in addition to finished works of art, expressed his commitment to their research value, which was unusual among collectors at the time. Freer purchased this handscroll in 1907 from the art dealer Nomura Yozo (1870–1965), whose firm in Yokohama, Japan, was known as Samurai Shokai. Nomura commissioned decorative handcrafts designed for export, and he also sold Asian antiquities.

Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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