Buddhist sutra frontispiece of Sakyamuni preaching and dated colophon

Object Details

• Description

  Woodblock-printed sutra frontispiece on two sheets of paper folded accordion style into seven sections. The sections are lettered A-G to facilitate description. The first sheet of paper contains sections A-F, which comprise an illustration of Buddha preaching, and the second sheet consists of section G, which is a dated imperial inscription. The two sheets are attached on the back side and they create a seemingly continuous composition; however Section F is slightly cropped on the left edge, where no doubt the original sutra once appeared. After the text was removed, Section G, which would have been its conclusion was cut off and attached to the frontispiece.

  Section A bears the title, Jinguang xiangyi (Illustration of Golden Light). Sections A-F, which are printed from a single block, illustrate the Buddha preaching to a crowd in a cloud-filled realm; the illustration is framed inside of a black border. Section G contains an imperial inscription dated 1419; the inscription is surrounded by images of dragons and clouds and framed by a black border that creates a seemingly continuous line with the frame around the illustration.

• Inscriptions

  The inscription is an injunction that all sentient beings will one day attain Buddhahood. In short, the text describes an orderly world with harmony in nature, government, and family. The text beings with a reference to the six realms at peace, the seven administrative districts in order, rain and sun appearing at appropriate times, and a plentitude of the myriad things; the text proceeds with mention of households upholding loyalty and filial piety, and, after further comments, concludes with the promise that all sentient beings will attain Buddhahood.

  On the first leaf, the inscription mentions Chin-kuang ching, which may be an abbreviation of the Buddhist sutra Chin-kuang-ming Ching, the text of which should follow after the frontispiece.

• Provenance

  Jean-Pierre Dubosc (1904-1988) [1]

  To 1985

  Donald J. Wineman, New York to 1985

  From 1985

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Donald J. Wineman in 1985

  Notes:

  [1] The piece was first shown in a 1957 exhibition by the Oriental Ceramic Society.

  The object entered the Dubosc collection later (see Curatorial Note 2, Fu Shen, January 1986, in object record).

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Virtue and Entertainment: Chinese Music in the Visual Arts (October 1, 2005 to May 29, 2006)

  The Art of the Ming Dynasty (November 15 to December 15, 1957)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Jean-Pierre Dubosc (1903-1988)

  Donald J. Wineman

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Donald Wineman

• Type

  Print

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

  There are restrictions for re-using this media. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1400s

• Name

  Dubosc, Jean-Pierre, Ananda, buddha, Wineman, Donald J.

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Cats, Art, Yongle reign (1403 - 1424), Chinese Art, Sutra, Throne, Pipa, Kasyapa, Lokapala, Animals, Preaching, Wenshu, Ming dynasty (1368 - 1644)

• Culture

  Buddhists, Naga (South Asian people), Chinese

• Object Type

  Prints