The Metropolitan Museum of Art Acquires Two Important Medieval Japanese Religious Sculptures

(New York, February 12, 2024)—The Metropolitan Museum of Art has announced the acquisition of two rare and acclaimed wooden sculptures from medieval Japan: an image of the compassionate Buddhist deity Jizō, among only three extant works by the thirteenth-century sculptor Intan, and a representation of a female deity associated with the Shintō faith. Intan’s sculpture of Jizō, a widely worshipped guide of suffering souls imagined as an itinerant monk, is currently on view in the exhibition Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art. The female Shintō deity, or kami, will go on view in Fall 2024.

Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer, said: “These extraordinary examples of Japanese religious sculptures are both powerfully beautiful and technically remarkable. Accompanied by richly documented histories, the works will further strengthen and develop The Met’s collection of Japanese art, as well as our knowledge of the profound artistic and cultural traditions they represent.”

Both sculptures were on long-term loan to the Museum from 2012 to 2022, and regularly on view in the Arts of Japan Galleries during that time. The acquisition of the Jizō sculpture is made possible by Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions Fund for Asian Art, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions Fund, by exchange, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, and Fletcher Fund. The acquisition of the Shintō sculpture is made possible by The Vincent Astor Foundation Gift, 2023.

Mike Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of The Met’s Department of Asian Art, said: “Thanks both to major donations and curatorial acquisitions, over the years The Met has built a distinguished concentration of Japanese religious sculpture and painting. But these two works offer a unique opportunity to demonstrate the extraordinary expressive range possible in early Japanese sculpture.  The Jizō is beautifully naturalistic and intricately detailed; the Shintō deity is a study in abstract minimalism. Shown together, they underscore how ideology can have an immense impact on aesthetic choices.”

John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, said: “After having opportunities— with The Met’s own conservators and scientists as well as other specialists in Buddhist and Shintō art—to research and date these statues, and after a decade of sharing these works of serene beauty with visitors to the Arts of Japan Galleries, it is gratifying that we can give these important works a permanent home where they can be enjoyed and preserved for posterity.”

About the Sculptures
The sublime wooden image of Jizō Bosatsu (Bodhisattva Kshitigarbha), a Buddhist deity charged with delivering believers from suffering and often associated with salvation of children, is one of only three surviving works on which the name of the sculptor Intan—who was active in the thirteenth century at monasteries in the ancient capital of Nara—is recorded, along with the date of completion for the work, 1291. It was originally commissioned by a monk from Kōfukuji, a vaunted temple established in Nara in the seventh century and which still exists today as a repository of many celebrated treasures of Japanese Buddhist sculpture. It remained in Kofukuji until 1906, when the temple sold it to pay for renovations. A technical tour-de-force, the sculpture was delicately carved from multiple blocks of Japanese cypress wood (hinoki), and describes Jizō as a youthful monk, carrying a walking staff and wish-fulfilling jewel, and wearing vestments meticulously decorated with gold paint and cut gold leaf (kirikane), a painstaking technique that is one of the hallmarks of medieval Japanese Buddhist sculpture and painting. The work is now on view at The Met, as part of the current display rotation of the exhibition Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art curated by Aaron Rio.

The second sculpture depicts a twelfth century female Shintō deity (kami) in standing form, a contrast to most Shintō sculptures, which depict figures as seated. The figure appears as an aristocratic lady dressed in a Chinese-style long-sleeved formal garment, which recalls robes worn by female Buddhist deities in images of the heavenly realm. The figure belongs to a set of over 20 surviving sculptures, five of which remain in Japan and thirteen of which, including this piece, entered Western collections in the mid-twentieth century. While on loan at The Met, curators and conservators partnered with specialists in Japan and Europe to determine that most of these works were carved from magnolia wood, not cypress as was usually the case. Further dendrochronological examination, or studies of the growth rings evident in the wood, suggest that the tree from which most of the sculptures were made was impressively large and over 180 years old when it died, and came to be revered as a kami while it was alive. The sculpture of a female Shintō deity will go on view in Fall 2024. 

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February 12, 2024

Contact: Stella Kim
Communications@metmuseum.org

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