Reviving the Past: Antiquity & Antiquarianism in East Asian Art | Compassionate Beings: Japanese Buddhist Art

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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Reviving the Past: Antiquity & Antiquarianism in East Asian Art | Compassionate Beings: Japanese Buddhist Art
Kris Ercums, curator
Asia Gallery I, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Drawn from the Spencer’s permanent collection, this exhibition explores the diverse pantheon of deities loosely associated with the trait of compassion in Japanese Buddhist painting and sculpture. From Kannon, commonly known as the “bodhisattva of compassion,” to the Amida Buddha, who is believed to descend at the time of death and deliver the faithful to the Western Paradise, this rich assemblage encompasses devotional art made in the 13th century to more recent paintings by Zen masters completed in the Edo period (1600-1868).

Works of art

Inbutsu (stamp print) of Fudō Myōō
1200s–1300s, Kamakura period (1185–1333) or Muromachi period (1336–1573)
Gōshō Mandara (Mandala of Amitābha’s Welcoming Descent)
possibly 1800s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Shaka Triad with Sixteen Deities
1800s, Edo period (1600–1868) or Meiji period
Kanō Kazunobu (1815–1863), Shakyamuni undergoing austerities
mid 1800s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Fūgai Ekun (1568–1654), Daruma crossing the river
late 1500s–early 1600s, Momoyama period (1573–1615) or Edo period (1600–1868)
Chen Xian (active 1634–1654); Jifei (1616–1671), Guanyin and Attendant
mid-late 1600s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Kannon (Avalokitesvara)
1300s–late 1400s, Nambokuchō period (1337–1392) to Muromachi period (1338–1573)
Juichimen Kannon (Eleven-headed Avalokitesvara)
1600s with alterations made in the 1800s
鬼子母神 Kishibojin (Hārītī)
1700s–1800s Edo period (1600–1868)
半支迦 Hanshika (Pāñcika)
1700s or 1800s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Hyakuman-tō (three-tiered pagoda)
1700s or 1800s, Edo period (1600–1868)
miniature shrine
early 1900s, Meiji period (1868–1912)
ritual ladle
late Western Zhou dyanasty (circa 1120 BCE–770 BCE)
fish-shaped pendant
1200 BCE–1000 BCE, late Shang dynasty (circa 1600–1046 BCE) to early Western Zhou dynasty (circa 1120–770 BCE)
“garlic-bulb” hu vase
Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)
possibly late Shang dynasty (circa 1600 BCE–1046 BCE)