A hanging scroll titled "Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho)," ink, color and gold on silk, Edo period, early 18th century, artist unidentified. The imagined portrait shows Saicho, first Japanese patriarch of Tendai Buddhism, seated cross-legged on a Chinese-style carved lacquer chair before a painted screen, recalling his journey to China in 804 to study Tiantai teachings. Held today by the Metropolitan Museum of Art under accession 2020.396.6, Asian Art department.
Facts
Subject Matter
Devotional FunctionAs with other Buddhist patriarch portraits in the goeizu convention, this image was never intended as a naturalistic likeness: Saicho died in 822, roughly nine centuries before an Edo-period artist could have observed him firsthand. Such portraits functioned as devotional icons enshrined in Tendai temples for veneration of the sect's founder, a genre distinct from secular portraiture. 1 Physical Form
MediumHanging scroll, ink, color and gold on silk, Edo period, early 18th century, Metropolitan Museum of Art 2020.396.6 1 Medium (class) Connections
Associated With
This source names Tiantai directly: "his journey to China in 804 to study Tiantai teachings."
Source Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), accession 2020.396.6 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Belongs to Tradition
Source Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), accession 2020.396.6 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Depicts
The Met's own title for this hanging scroll names the subject outright, "Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho)," a formal commemorative portrait of the founding patriarch of Tendai Buddhism.
Source Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), accession 2020.396.6 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Originated In
Japan, Regions Source Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), accession 2020.396.6 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Sources
1. Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho), accession 2020.396.6 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Metropolitan Museum of Artcatalogue record, medium/object-type description
A hanging scroll titled "Portrait of Dengyo Daishi (Saicho)," ink, color and gold on silk, Edo period, early 18th century, artist unidentified.
Originated In: Japan, Collection record: culture, country and region fields
Japan
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