Untitled

Unknown

1162 · Woodblock print; ink on paper · Asian Art

These printed images of Bishamonten (Sanskrit: Vaishravana), the divine guardian of the north, were found inside a sculpture of the deity in the Jūrin'in subtemple of Nakagawadera, a temple northeast of Nara. To make the print, a block bearing a single image of Bishamonten was stamped a total of one thousand times. According to inscriptions on sheets of the same print in other collections, the images were made as an offering to the deity during a ritual service. They were placed inside the statue on the seventh day of the third month in 1162.

Artist

Unknown

Date

1162

Medium

Woodblock print; ink 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