Images(2)

Prince Shotoku at Age Two

Dateca. 1300

Label TextPrince Shotoku (572–622) served as regent for his aunt Empress Suiko (554–628) and is often credited with founding Buddhism in Japan. He was considered to be an incarnation of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, in Japan, and the story told about his life parallels that of Shakyamuni’s. This statue portrays him at age two, when, according to his legend, he turned east, joined his hands in prayer, and chanted the name of the Buddha.

Object number36.22

Exhibition HistoryPortland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 3 - 28, 1965. Cat. no. 116. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, A Thousand Cranes: Treasures of Japanese Art, Feb. 5 - Jul. 12, 1987. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Hero/Antihero, Dec. 21, 2002 - Aug. 17, 2003 Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Noble Splendor: Art of Japanese Aristocrats, Jul. 28, 2018 - Mar. 3, 2019. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.Published ReferencesAmazing X-Ray of Infant Shotoku Taishi. YouTube video, 2011. http://youtu.be/tE1xD0ESj8k. 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"), no. 48 "Gift to a City: Masterworks From the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum," Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 116. Guth, Christine M. E. "The Divine Boy in Japanese Art," in Monumenta Nipponica, Vol. 42, No. 1 (Spring 1987), pp. 1-23, illus no. 4, p. 11 "Handbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections." Seattle, WA: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 92 (b&w) Lee, S., "Japanese Art at Seattle", Oriental Art, Winter 1949 - 1950, p. 89, fig. 2, p. 91 Mayuyama, Jenkuchi, "Japanese Art In The West", 1966, no. 58 Rosenfield, John M., "The Sedgwick Statue of the Infant Shotoku Taishi", Archives, XXII, 1968 -1969, p. 57, fig. 2 Seattle Art Museum, "A Thousand Cranes: Treasures of Japanese Art", co-publisher Chronicle Books, San Francisco, 1987, ill. p. 29 Yamanaka & Co., Boston, Massachusetts, "Yamanaka Exhibition of Japanese Buddhist Art", 1936, no. 10, pl. 10

Credit LineEugene Fuller Memorial Collection

Dimensions26 7/8 x 11 1/8 x 11 1/8 in. (68.3 x 28.2 x 28.2 cm)

MediumWood with polychrome, rock-crystal inlaid eyes