This sutra once formed part of a much larger set of handscrolls depicting all twenty-eight chapters of the Lotus Sutra, among the most popular Buddhist scriptures. Each scroll consists of a pictorial frontispiece (at far right) followed by a section of text, both brushed in gold paint on indigo-dyed paper. The handscroll on view contains a portion of the Lotus Sutra’s fifth chapter, “Parable of the Medicinal Herbs.”
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妙法蓮華経 「薬草喩品第五」 の内
Title:“Parable of the Medicinal Herbs” (Yakusōyu), Chapter 5 of the Lotus Sutra (Saddharma pundarika)
Artist:Unidentified artist
Period:Heian period (794–1185)
Date:12th century
Culture:Japan
Medium:Handscroll; gold and silver ink on indigo-dyed paper
Dimensions:10 1/16 in. x 34 ft. 8 3/4 in. (25.6 x 1058.6 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Seymour Fund, 1965
Accession Number:65.216.2
[ Yamanaka & Co. , New York, NY, until 1965; sold to MMA].
New York. Asia Society. "The Image and the Word: Buddhist Manuscript Illuminations," April 9, 1987–June 7, 1987.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of Japan," 1995.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Art in Early Japan," 1999–2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Blossoms of Many Colors: A Selection from the Permanent Collection of Japanese Art," March 21–August 9, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Graceful Gestures: A Decade of Collecting Japanese Art," September 29, 2001–March 10, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Great Waves: Chinese Themes in the Arts of Korea and Japan II," March 22–September 21, 2003.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," July 2–November 29, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "A Sensitivity to the Seasons: Spring and Summer," December 17, 2005–June 4, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Poetry and Travel in Japanese Art," December 18, 2008–May 31, 2009.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met," February 14 - September 27, 2015.
Tokyo Kokuritsu Bunkazai Kenkyūjo 東京国立文化財研究所, ed. Nyūyōku Metoroporitan Bijutsukan, kaiga, chōkoku ニューヨークメトロポリタン美術館，絵画・彫刻 (Painting and sculpture of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York) Kaigai shozai Nihon bijutsuhin chōsa hōkoku 海外所在日本美術品調查報告 (Catalogue of Japanese art in foreign collections) 1. Tokyo: Kobunkazai Kagaku Kenkyūkai, 1991, p. 17, cat. no. 49.1.
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