Lotus Sutra

late 12th century

Opening with an illustration, this handscroll of the Lotus Sutra was part of a larger body of work copied or commissioned by members of the court as a means to salvation. The indigo color stands for the mineral lapis lazuli, which, like gold and silver, is part of the seven treasures of Buddhism. Illuminated sutras are believed to have been dedicated by the Fujiwara clan to Chusonji Temple in the northeast region of Japan.

Handscroll; gold and silver on indigo dyed paper

3940 15/16 × 9 3/4 in. (10010 × 24.8 cm); width with knobs: 11 1/2 in. (29.2 cm)

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

48.171

Provenance: Dr. Fuller purchased from Mayuyama & Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan; donated to Seattle Art Museum, 1948

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryClaremont, California, Claremont Graduate School and Scripps College, Japanese Art In America, 1960.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Japanese Art In The Seattle Art Museum, 1960.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Cranes: Treasures Of Japanese Art, Feb. 5 - July 12, 1987.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Masterpieces of Japanese Art from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 1, 1998 - Mar. 1, 1999.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Flights of Fancy: Natural and Supernatural Images In Japanese Art, Dec. 9, 1998 - Aug. 1, 1999.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Years of Beauty: Japanese Art in Seattle, July 16, 2001 - Nov. 17, 2002.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Discovering Buddhist Art - Seeking the Sublime, July 9, 2003 - June 3, 2005.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing [on view Feb. 8, 2020 - Nov. 28, 2021].

Published ReferencesLee, Sherman. "Seven Early Japanese Paintings," in Art Quarterly, Autumn 1949, pp. 309-324, discussed pp. 310, 313, illus. p. 311

Lee, S., "Japanese Art at Seattle", Oriental Art, Winter 1949 - 1950, p. 91

"Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 88 (b&w)

Claremont Graduate School and Scripps College, CA, "Japanese Art In America", 1960, pl. VII (18)

Fuller, Richard E. "Japanese Art in the Seattle Art Museum: An Historical Sketch." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1960 ("Presented in commemoration of the Hundredth Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and the United States of America"), nos. 40a and b

Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, Washington,, "A Thousand Cranes: Treasures Of Japanese Art", co-publisher Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1987, ill. p. 31

Kamens, Edward, "The Great Buddhist Poetry Of The Great Kamo Priestess", Ann Arbor: Center for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan, 1990, reproduced on cover.

Kiley, Brendan. "Seattle Asian Art Museum is set to reopen – 3 years and $56 million later." Seattle Times, February 2, 2020: p. E4, reporduced. [A version of this article appears online on January 30, 2020 with the headline: "Step inside the reinvented Seattle Asian Art Museum, set to reopen after 3 years," https://www.seattletimes.com/entertainment/visual-arts/three-years-and-56-million-later-seattle-asian-art-museum-is-reinvented-and-set-to-reopen.]

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