Pavilions of a Buddhist Paradise

Object Details

• Description

  In the Crawford catalogue, "Chinese Calligraphy and Painting" (p. 51), Max Loehr wrote about the painting:

  The fragment depicts a curious architectural assemblage surrounding a checker-paved court. At the left side rise, one behind the other in close juxtaposition, a small porch and two open pavilions on raised platforms. Behind the pavilions runs a portico which closes on the scene to the rear and supports a pillared kiosk on a square platform hovering above the portico. The kiosk is enclosed by a railing, as are the structures on the ground. The roofs are of one type throughout, hipped and with straight caves in Tang fashion. They are rendered in a disjointed perspective that contrasts with the neat and seemingly precise design of the architectural details. In the porchlike structure in front of the buildings appears the lonely figure of a seated Buddha in the meditative pose.

• Marks

  Four characters, "Chin-kuang-ming-ssu" (Monastary of Golden Splendor), in ink at the lower left of the painting. These seem to have been "written" to indcate ownership by a monastary of that name.

  Four characters, "Chin-kuang-ming-ssu" (Monastary of Golden Splendor), in ink at the lower left of the painting. These seem to have been "written" to indcate ownership by a monastary of that name.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of John M. Crawford, Jr.

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  900s, 1000s

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Pavilion, Art, Song dynasty (960 - 1279), Architecture, Chinese Art, Tushita

• Culture

  Buddhists, Chinese

• Object Type

  Paintings