Artworks

Fukūkenjaku Kannon

Artwork · official Buddhist atelier, probably under Kuninaka no Kimimaro · 740s · statue · Tōdai-ji Temple

The eight-armed Kannon “of the never-empty lasso” on the altar of the Hokkedō (Sangatsudō), Tōdaiji: one of the most austere forms of the bodhisattva, with a third eye in the forehead, the lotus, the pilgrim’s staff and the lasso in its hands, an openwork silver crown with a standing Amida and a halo of flame-like rays. Made in hollow dry lacquer in the official atelier, probably under Kuninaka no Muraji Kimimaro. 1 Mason 2005, p. 88, fig. 106, 108. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.