Portrait of Tendai Daishi

Object Details

• Label

  The Japanese revere the Chinese Buddhist theologian Zhiyi (538–597) who founded the Tiantai (Tendai in Japanese) school of Buddhism. Tendai Daishi, as he is known in Japan, also distinguished himself as a scholar of the Lotus Sutra, a important text of East Asian Buddhism. The Japanese Buddhist priest who introduced the teachings of the Tendai school to Japan, Saicho (767–822), brought sketches of the Tendai patriarchs from China. In Japan, production of formal portraits of these patriarchs of China and Japan began during the Heian period (794–1185), but few early works survive. Here, Tendai Daishi’s hands form a symbolic gesture (mudra) that signifies meditation. The cowl draped over his head is topped with a small weight, also used for meditation.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  The Power of Words in an Age of Crisis (October 14, 2017 to May 6, 2018)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)

  Portraiture from Japan (July 1, 1983 to April 5, 1984)

  Portraiture of Japan (July 1, 1983 to April 5, 1984)

  A Decade of Discovery: Selected Acquisitions 1970-1980 (November 9, 1979 to May 22, 1980)

  Japanese Art (April 11, 1978 to March 6, 1981)

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase —Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1300s

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Art, Meditation, Priest, Japanese Art, Portraits, Nanbokucho period (1333 - 1392), Kakemono

• Culture

  Buddhists, Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings