Standing Bodhisattva from the Forty-Eight Buddhas of Horyuji
Asuka period, seventh century
In a darkened room, each in its own softly lit glass case, stand dozens of small bronze Buddhas and bodhisattvas, most no taller than a hand span. This standing bodhisattva is one of the finest, a slender figure with a tall crown, a gentle smile and long ribbons of drapery falling from its shoulders and flaring out at the sides like fins. Its gilding has worn to a warm brown with flashes of gold in the folds. Small as it is, it holds itself with the calm grandeur of a temple statue.
The figures are known as the Forty-Eight Buddhas, though there are a few more than that, and they are the largest group of early Buddhist bronzes surviving anywhere in East Asia. They were cast by the lost wax method in the seventh century, when Buddhism was newly established in Japan, and their styles range from the stiff frontal manner of Chinese work of the sixth century to the softer, rounder forms of the early Tang. Look at the way this figure's drapery is treated as flat symmetrical patterns; it shows the ancient style that came through Korea. Compare it with neighbours whose bodies sway and whose faces are fuller.
The bronzes were kept for centuries at the temple of Horyuji near Nara, the oldest wooden monastery in the world, and were among more than three hundred treasures the temple gave to the imperial household in 1878 in return for funds to repair its buildings. The collection was transferred to the museum after the war, and the present gallery, by the architect Taniguchi Yoshio, opened in 1999 to display it. Room 2 is the heart of the building and, unlike most of the museum, its contents are on view all year.
Did You Know? The temple gave these treasures to the Emperor in 1878 in exchange for money to repair its ancient buildings.
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