Temple Treasures of Japan
Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: early T'ang Period. The face alone reveals its Tartar origin; body, limbs, costume and jewels are distinctly trans-Himalayan. But strong Indian influence is already seen at about this time; even sporadically perhaps before, as we may remark in the bronze statuette illustrated under Figure 25. For, as early as the middle part of the seventh century, Indian suavity and soft rotundity of limb and feature had already made itself felt. This little bronze we may, perhaps, assign to the post-Suiko Era (628-668). Formerly one of the ancient treasures of Horyuji, it now forms one of the many early bronzes preserved in the collection of the Imperial Household. Beyond the Kwannon stands another memorial statuette of Shotoku, represented this time as a youth of about sixteen. It may well be a copy in wood of the faded
...painting still to be seen hanging upon the walls of the Hozo. The old-fashioned style of tying up the hair in two great puffs above the ears, and the rich and voluminous garments and large, turned-up shoes, lend an unusual charm to this example of Ashikaga wood-carving. Far more important are the figures of certain great prelates of the Hosso sect of Buddhism, ranged around the narrow platform. The figures are modeled in dry-lacquer over a wooden core, a favorite method of the craftsmen of the Yoro-Tempyo period (717-749). One of the best statues is that of Dozen-ritsushi, an amiable old priest, if one may judge by the half-smiling expression which seems to irradiate his not unhandsome face. And yet, Dozen has the square jaw and prominent cheek bones that denote determination; and indeed, determination would be required of one who would master the mystic doctrines of the Hosso sect of Horyuji. A priestly robe hangs in wellordered folds about his emaciated form; and a long woo...
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