土曜図像|Iconographic Drawing of Saturn

Unknown

12th century · Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper · Asian Art

Rituals dedicated to the stars and planets were introduced to Japan from China in the ninth century together with Esoteric Buddhist teachings. Doyō (Sanskrit: Shanaishchara), or the planet Saturn, is one of the Nine Luminaries (Sanskrit: Navagraha) of the stellar system as originally defined in early Indian texts that were later incorporated into Buddhism. In China, Buddhist understandings of the heavens were intertwined with Daoist beliefs. Here, the planet is illustrated as an old man with a bull’s head atop his own, dressed in a flowing robe. Now mounted as a hanging scroll, the iconographic drawing once formed part of a handscroll including representations of other celestial bodies.

Artist

Unknown

Date

12th century

Medium

Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper

Culture

Japan

Department

Asian Art

Credit line

The Harry G. C. Packard Collection of Asian Art, Gift of Harry G. C. Packard, and Purchase, Fletcher, Rogers, Harris Brisbane Dick, and Louis V. Bell Funds, Joseph Pulitzer Bequest, and The Annenberg Fund Inc. Gift, 1975