- Museum number
- 1932,0309.1
- Title
- Object: Kudara Kannon 百済観音
- Description
-
Standing figure of the bodhisattva Kannon, holding water vase, with metal crown, and mandorla behind. Carved in 'ichiboku zukuri' method, almost wholly out of single block of camphor wood and hollowed at back; painted, gesso, with bronze ornaments. Replica of 7th-century statue (known as the Kudara Kannon) in Hōryūji temple, Nara.
- Production date
-
1931-1932
-
7thC (original)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 2.10 metres (height of figure)
-
Height: 3.10 metres (total height)
- Curator's comments
-
See Laurence Binyon, 'Replica of a Statue of Kannon' in British Museum Quarterly, VII (1932-33).
3rd November 1972 - visit of Mrs Sunayama, a pupil of Niiro. She said two copies were made at once (one in Tokyo), and took two years to produce.
-
Zwalf 1985
The celebrated Kudara Kannon (Avalokiteśvara) in the Hōryūji temple, Nara, is called after the Korean kingdom of Paekche (Japanese Kudara) and has the 'archaic' smile and the treatment of drapery of early work made under Korean influence. Carved, like the original, by the ‘ichiboku zukuri’ method, almost wholly out of a single block of camphor wood and hollowed at the back to prevent splitting, this is one of two copies made by Niiro Chūnosuke.
-
Jones 1990
The custom of replicating objects for religious veneration is very old in Japan. In the Kamakura period (AD 1185-1333) there was a virtual mass-production of certain images. In the Sanjūsangendō hall in Kyoto, for example, one can still see the thousand standing gilt-wood images of the 'Thousand Armed Kannon' Bodhistattva made during the Kamakura period. Exact copies of important statues are being made today with traditional tools and traditional techniques in order to ensure the preservation of the image and for display in the growing numbers of local museums in Japan.
Like the seventh-century original, this wood replica of the Kudara Kannon statue in the Hōryūji temple is, apart from the arms and the draperies hanging from the shoulders, carved from a single huge block of camphor wood. The replica was made in the 1920s by the sculptor Niiro Chūnosuke over a period of two years, so faithfully that only by scientific examination could the copy be distinguished from the original.
The Bodhisattva is known as the Kudara Kannon after the ancient Korean kingdom of Paekche (Japanese Kudara), whence the sculpture was once thought to have originated. However, it differs in several respects from other seventh-century figures in the Hōryūji collection which have a clearly Korean inspiration. The body is altogether more adult and graceful, and the half-smile is more gentle than the 'archaic smile' common to most Asuka period wood and bronze sculptures. The Kudara Kannon is not mentioned in any temple document before the seventeenth century, and its origin is still something of an enigma.
-
For more information on the creation of the replica, see Sato Doshin, "Niiro Chunosuke Kudara Kannon", 'Kokka' 1400 (June 2012), pp. 41-45.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
Exhibited:
2006 Oct 13-, BM Japanese Galleries, 'Japan from prehistory to the present'
- Acquisition date
- 1932
- Acquisition notes
- Commissioned by the British Museum Trustees from Niiro Chunosuke, "the chief Japanese restorer of works of art". Purchased with help from Sir Percival David, the NACF and Mrs. Alex. Whyte. [See Trustees Minutes, 12/3/1932]
- Department
- Asia
- Registration number
- 1932,0309.1
- Additional IDs
-
Other BM number: OA+.8 (obsolete temporary reg. no.)
