2019.122.19: Handscroll format text "Shinnyokan"
ManuscriptsGallery Text
Although this scroll has no title, it is identifiable as a Buddhist text on the fundamental emptiness of reality called "Shinnyokan," attributed to the influential Buddhist cleric Genshin (942–1017). A handful of early versions of the text are known in Japan, but this scroll, dated the 27th day of the 10th month of the year 1282, is the earliest surviving manuscript copy of the work.
Identification and Creation
- Object Number
- 2019.122.19
- Title
- Handscroll format text "Shinnyokan"
- Other Titles
- Title: Shinnyokan
- Classification
- Manuscripts
- Work Type
- handscroll
- Date
- Kamakura period, datable to circa 1292
- Places
- Creation Place: East Asia, Japan
- Period
- Kamakura period, 1185-1333
- Culture
- Japanese
- Persistent Link
- https://hvrd.art/o/210619
Physical Descriptions
- Medium
- Unmounted handscroll; ink on paper
- Dimensions
- H. 16.7 × W. 447 cm (6 9/16 × 176 in.)
Provenance
- Recorded Ownership History
-
[Yamanaka Shoji Co., Ltd, Awata Kyoto (1936)], sold; to Ellery Sedgwick, Beverly, MA, (1936-1960), passed; to his wife, Marjorie Russell, Beverly, MA (1960-1971), inherited; by Ellery Sedgwick, Jr., Gates Mills, Ohio, (1971-1991), inherited; by Walter Sedgwick, Woodside, CA, (1991-2019), partial and promised gift; to the Harvard Art Museums.
Acquisition and Rights
- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Partial and promised gift of Walter C. Sedgwick in memory of Ellery Sedgwick Sr. and Ellery Sedgwick Jr.
- Object Number
- 2019.122.19
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- Permissions
-
The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request.
Publication History
- John M. Rosenfield, The Sedgwick Statue of the Infant Shotoku Taishi, Archives of Asian Art (1968-1969), Vol. XXII / pp. 56-79
- Keizaburō Mizuno, ed., Nihon chōkokushi kiso shiryō shūsei (Compendium of the History of Japanese Sculpture), Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan (Tokyo, 2019)
- Rachel Saunders, “Hābādo Daigaku Bijutsukan shozō Shōtoku Taishi nisai zō ni komerareta imi” (Interpreting the Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku at Age Two at the Harvard Art Museums), Zōkei no poetika: Nihon bijutsushi o meguru aratana chihei (The Poetics of Form: New Horizons in Japanese Art History), ed. Sano Midori Festschrift Committee, Seikansha (Tokyo, 2021), pp, 71-86
- Rachel Saunders, Angela Chang, Penley Knipe, and H. Greg Lin, “Hābādo Bijutsukan shozō Namu Butsu Taishi zō: kyōdō kenkyū to sono seika” (When Art Meets Science: Interdisciplinary Research and Prince Shōtoku at Age Two at the Harvard Art Museums), Hābādo Bijutsukan Namu Butsu Taishi zō no kenkyū, Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan (Tokyo, 2023), pp. 191-235
- Mika Abé, Yasurō Abé, Kensuke Chikamoto, Rachel Saunders, Ai Seya, and Takayuki Seya, ed., Hābādo Bijutsukan Namu Butsu Taishi zō no kenkyū (The Sculpture of Prince Shōtoku at Age Two at the Harvard Art Museums), Chūō Kōron Bijutsu Shuppan (Tokyo, 2023)
Exhibition History
- Later Chinese and Japanese Figure Painting in Decorative Arts, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/22/1992 - 06/07/1992
- Paragons of Wisdom and Virtue: East Asian Figure Painting, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 02/15/1997 - 09/21/1997
- Prince Shōtoku: The Secrets Within, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 05/25/2019 - 08/11/2019
Related Objects
Verification Level
This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu