Artworks

Birushana Buddha, Tōshōdaiji

Artwork · Anonymous · second half of the 8th century · statue · Tōshōdai-ji Temple

The seated Birushana of the golden hall of Tōshōdaiji, the largest Buddha in dry lacquer of the Nara period, covered in gold leaf, against a halo with hundreds of small Buddhas. Stylised rather than naturalistic: short thick neck, long upturned profile. An ink inscription found in 1917 names those who made it — Mononobe Hirotari, Nuribe Otomaro and Jōfuku. 1 Mason 2005, p. 94, fig. 118. ↩ Literatur Mason 2005: Penelope E. Mason, History of Japanese Art, 2nd, Pearson Education LTD. 2005.