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Published: Jean-Paul Desroches (ed.) et al, Two Americans in Paris: A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, p. 128-129, no. 226
Exhibited:
1. Pointe-à-Callière Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Montréal, 17 November 2016-19 March 2017.
2. Kimbell Art Museum, From the Lands of Asia. The Sam and Myrna Myers Collection, Fort Worth, Texas, 4 March-19 August 2018.
Japan, 16th century. Ink, watercolors, gouache, and gold paint on paper, mounted on canvas and fixed on a wood frame. Each panel depicting one of the eight patriarchs of the Shingon school of esoteric Buddhism seated in a mediative posture atop a short platform, the shoes placed on the ground before them, some with a vase or ewer set beside them. Each portrait is topped by two small paintings showing a landscape and a stylized pine tree, respectively. (8)
The patriarchs depicted are as follows:
Kukai (Kobo Daishi); Ryuchi-Bosatsu (Nagabodhi); Keika-Ajari (Huiguo); Yi Xing; Zenmui (Shubhakarasimha); Kongochi-Sanzo (Vajrabodhi); Fukukongo-Sanzo (Amoghavajra); Ryuju-Bosatsu (Nagarjuna).
Provenance: The Collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, Paris, France. Acquired between circa 1965-2012.
Condition: Very good condition with minor wear. Small nicks, minor flaking, some soiling, and minuscule losses. A few panels with worm holes with associated touchups.
Dimensions: Image size ca. 85.5 x 40 cm, Size incl. frame ca. 91.5 x 42.5 cm (each)
These portraits were likely displayed in the sutra reading hall, serving as a reminder to students of the importance of the master-disciple relationship, which is the foundation of esoteric Buddhism. These eight portraits highlight the direct founders and key thinkers of the tradition, emphasizing the unbroken transmission of doctrine from India to Japan via China.
The direct lineage of the Shingon school’s patriarchs begins with the Indian Buddhist monk Shubhakarasimha (637–735), a master of esoteric Buddhism who arrived in China around 716 and translated the Mahavairocana Sutra. It continues with the Chinese Chan master Yi Xing (683–727), regarded as Shubhakarasimha’s most distinguished disciple, and then with another Chinese monk, Huiguo (746–805), who was Yi Xing’s disciple and the teacher of Kukai (774–835), the founder of the Shingon school in Japan. Concurrently, Vajrabodhi (670–741) and his student Amoghavajra (705–775), who also arrived from India shortly after Shubhakarasimha, played key roles in solidifying Buddhism during the Tang dynasty in China. Amoghavajra was another teacher of Huiguo. Vajrabodhi, in turn, is believed to have received his teachings from Nagabodhi (dates uncertain), said to have lived for several centuries and to have been trained by Nagarjuna (circa 150–250), one of the founders of esoteric Buddhism, to whom several hundred Sanskrit texts are attributed. Nagarjuna is believed to have been one of the first abbots of Nalanda Monastery, which, from the 4th to the 9th century, was the greatest center for Buddhist learning in Asia, with an influence never since equaled. Shubhakarasimha himself studied there. Thus, when Kukai returned from China in 806 and deposited at To-ji Temple, in the south of Kyoto, the portraits of the first five patriarchs—all of Indian origin—he was uniting two lineages into one, tracing it nearly back to the origins of Buddhism. The three other patriarchs—the two Chinese, Yi Xing and Huiguo, and Kukai himself—were added later.
Literature comparison:
Compare a related set of eight hanging scrolls depicting the eight patriarchs of the Shingon Sect of Buddhism, Kamakura period, dated to the 13th-14th century, 118.6 cm high, in the Nara National Museum, accession number 797-0.
Auction result comparison:
Type: Related
Auction: Christie’s Paris, 10 June 2009, lot 6
Price: EUR 18,750 or approx. EUR 24,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: Eight kakemono, ink and color on silk, ‘the Shingon Denji Hasso’, Japan, Edo period, 17th-18th century
Expert remark: Compare the related subject and similar iconography. Note the later dating (17th-18th century).
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