Painting and Textiles

Cloth, With paired phoenixes and bead roundels design on brown ground (detail), Asuka-Nara period, 7th-8th century

The Gallery of Horyuji Treasures Room 6
November 3, 2020 (Tue) - November 29, 2020 (Sun)

The Gallery of Hōryūji Treasures contains paintings from as early as the 11th century—including the National Treasure the Illustrated Biography of Prince Shōtoku (1069 AD), which depicts the legends surrounding Hōryūji Temple’s founder. Other works include the Important Cultural Property the Four Sages at Mount Shang, and Wen Wang and Lu Shang (1364 AD) along with numerous paintings featuring Buddhist themes.

The textiles held in the collection date from the mid-7th to 8th century and consist mainly of Buddhist ritual banners (ban), table mats (joku), and robes or other clothing worn by monks. The textiles also include fragments whose original uses are unknown, including rare ancient textiles, such as warp-faced compound weaves, tapestries, warp ikat fragments, complex gauze (ra), and plain- and twill-weave silks.

Commentary Sheet (PDF)

Major Work(s) on Exhibit 3 results

Painting

	Designation	Name		Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance	Period	Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number	CMT
Highlight	Important Cultural Property	Four Sages of Mount Shang, and King Wen and Lu Shang	6 two-fold screens		Nanbokucho period, 14th century	N-4

	Designation	Name	Creation/ Excavation/ Provenance	Period	Acquisition/ Ownership/ Accession Number	CMT
Highlight		Cloth, With paired phoenixes and bead roundels design on brown ground		Asuka-Nara period, 7th-8th century	I-336-58
Highlight	Important Cultural Property	Red Rug		Nara period, 8th century	N-54-5

Exhibitions