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Rare Edo p. Japanese Buddhist Star Mandala browse these categories for related items... All Items: Japanese: Paintings: Scrolls: Pre 1800: item #970086 Please refer to our stock #ALR2765 when inquiring.
3,500.00 |
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| Here is a rare and well depicted representation of the Star Mandala painted in heavy pigment on paper set in a field of green brocade. Mandala are used as symbols of the Buddhist Worlds and objects for meditation in Esoteric Buddhism. To quote Grotenhuis, Stars were considered an important source of supernatural power…The most important of Celestial-Being-centered Mandalas are the Star Mandala. Here we see the central image of Shaka surrounded by various bodies representing the many celestial beings. Immediately above and below him, and at the bottom of the central panel are 9 halos containing representations of the 9 planets. Between the lower six planets are spheres containing the 7 stars of the Big Dipper. Immediately surrounding the central panel is a rectangle containing the 12 members of the Western Zodiac. It is of interest that at the time the Mandala imagery was brought to Japan China had moved to the Babylonian Zodiac. After the fall of the Tang dynasty, they returned to the animal Zodiac; however during that era the Mandala was brought to Japan, and so Japanese Star Mandala are depicted using western Zodiac symbols. The outermost rectangle contains the 28 constellations through which the moon passes on its orbit. This rectangular form Mandala was created by Shingon Sect Abbot Kanjo of Ninnaji Temple in 1125. The scroll measures 31 x 69 inches (79 x 175 cm). There is creasing and paint loss, with some past restoration attesting to the great age of the image. For an indepth discussion of Japanese Mandala see the book Japanese Mandalas by Elizabeth ten Grotenhuis. | |||||||||||||||
