Prince Shotoku (Shotoku Taishi) and attendants

Object Details

• Description

  The sixteen-year-old prince is adorned in a kesa (Buddhist vestment) and carries an incense burner. He is flanked by two attendants; one bears a rolled sutra scroll encased in a vertical holder and the other holds the portable canopy that protects the prince.

• Inscriptions

  1. (James T. Ulak, 13 April 2001) In the upper right and left corners of the painting are twelve lines of calligraphy, mainly descriptive of the image. They include, at the left, a partially legible line reading "the eleventh month, twenty-third day" and a line of script indicating that the painting was solicited as a commission from a temple, although the temple name has been obliterated.

• Provenance

  Baron Kuki Ryuichi (1852-1931), Japan [1]

  To 2001

  Takashi Yanagi, Kyoto, to 2001

  From 2001

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Takashi Yanagi in 2001

  Notes:

  [1] According to Curatorial Note 2, James T. Ulak, April 13, 2001, in the object record.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Words of Wisdom: Buddhist Calligraphy from Japan (April 1, 2023 to February 25, 2024)

  Spreading the Word (May 18 to November 12, 2018)

  Facing East: Portraits from Asia (July 1 to September 4, 2006)

  Religious Art of Japan (December 18, 2002 to January 4, 2015)

  Honoring Friends: Recent Gifts by Members of the Freer and Sackler Galleries (June 10 to November 25, 2001)

  Shotoku Taishi Shinko no Bijutsu (Art of the Prince Shotoku Faith) (1999)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Baron Kuki Ryuichi 九鬼 隆一 (1852-1931)

  Takashi Yanagi

• Origin

  Japan

• Credit Line

  Purchase — funds provided by the Parnassus Foundation, courtesy of Jane and Raphael Bernstein; Mr. and Mrs. Frank H. Pearl; Jeffrey P. Cunard; and the Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Painting

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1200s

• Name

  Takashi, Yanagi, Ryuichi, Kuki

• Place

  Japan

• Topic

  Kamakura period (1185 - 1333), Prince, Art, Incense, Japanese Art, Portraits, Sutra, Filial piety, Attendant, Kakemono

• Culture

  Buddhists, Japanese

• Object Type

  Paintings