- Lot 243

Lot n° 243
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10000 - 15000 EUR
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Result : 9 500EUR
- Lot 243
Large Buddhist painting known as Kongōkai Mandala 金剛界曼荼羅 or Diamond World Mandala Ink, gofun and colors on silk. 172x142cm Originally mounted as a framed kakemono in Europe. This mandala centered on the Buddha Dainichi Nyorai 大日如来 (Vairocana in Sanskrit) is one of the most popular mandala forms among esoteric Buddhist sects in Japan. Associated with the Taizōkai Mandala, it is known as the Ryōkai Mandala or Mandala of Two Worlds. Used by the Japanese Shingon Tantric school, and some branches of the Tendai sect, it is attached to the west wall of temples, while the Taizōkai (or Matrix World Mandala) is attached to the east wall. It contains 1461 deities divided into nine groups representing successive degrees of spiritual progress. The Dainichi Buddha (Vairocana) occupies the top. He represents consciousness, the sixth element of the universe, thevajra(diamond), the setting sun, the teaching ofdharmathe masculine. There are several versions of the Kongokai Mandala. This one is the Kue (Ku-e) version (literally "Nine-Panel Mandala" 九会曼荼羅). It is the most common form of the Kongōkai Mandala. Mandala consisting of nine panels, hence the name (ku=九=9). Each panel is a mini-mandala with its own distinct iconography, meaning and textual basis (sutra). It is rare to find this kind of mandala outside of temples in Japan. The most famous ones are the one in the Toji temple in Kyoto and the one in the Nara museum (see pictures 5 and 6) As the iconography has not changed over the centuries and a scientific study of the support and the pigments could not be made, the way the painting was framed prevented any in-depth study of the back of the original support, the dating of this piece is very difficult. The technique, the graphics, but also the type of pigment and the wear and tear date this work to the Muromachi Muromachi period (1333-1573), but there is no reason, apart from the results of a scientific test, why it should not be dated earlier. CNES EXPERT : FRANTZ FRAY
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