A LARGE JAPANESE POLYCHROME AND LACQUER WOOD FIGURE EDO 1603-1868 Depicting the monk Kukai...

A LARGE JAPANESE POLYCHROME AND LACQUER WOOD FIGURE

EDO 1603-1868

Depicting the monk Kukai wearing red robes and seated on a high chair, his eyes inlaid in glass and with a serene expression on his face, holding glass beads in his left hand and a metal vajra in the other, with an inscription underneath the cushion, 56cm. (3)

Provenance: from a Shingon temple in Kyoto, by repute, then the Silk Road House, Hong Kong, purchased on 14th December 1985 by the current owner. The original Silk Road House certificate is available.

Kukai (774-835), also known as Kobo-Daishi (literally meaning 'The Grand Master who propagated the Buddhist Teaching') was a Buddhist literatus and founder of the Shingon, the 'True World' school of Buddhism. This figure is probably inspired by a famous portrait from the Kamakura Period (1185-1333) depicting him in a similar fashion.