A painting in ink, mineral pigments, and gold on paper. The painting would have originally been framed in concentric strips of silk, but the silk has been trimmed and the painting placed in a Western-style frame.
Subject Matter
A portrait of an Rölpai Dorje ("the Playful Vajra," 1717–1786), spiritual adviser to Emperor Kangxi of Qing dynasty China and the leading authority on Tibetan Buddhism in China for much of the 18th century.
A Mongolian, Dragpa Sonam—his personal name— was identified at age 3 as the reincarnation of the first Changkya Huthugtu, who had served at the Qing court as preceptor to the Yongzheng emperor. At age 7, Dragpa Sonam was captured and taken to Beijing, where he was educated at the Songzhu Temple, a famous center of Tibetan Buddhist studies. He became fluent in Mongolian, Manchurian, and Chinese as well as in the dual worlds of the Qing court and the Mongol-Tibetan monastery.
Rölpai Dorje was eventually appointed to the highest rank for a Tibetan monk in China, and given charge of all the Buddhist monasteries. He oversaw the refurbishing of a palace building at the Yonghegong, a Tibetan temple, and designed and furnished the Yuhuage as a private imperial chapel for Tibetan Buddhist practice. He frequently served as an advisor on diplomatic issues concerning China's relationship with Tibet, and developed close relationships with both the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.
In the artistic field, he was a major patron of both architecture and paintings and sculptures in the Tibetan style. An authority on iconography, he personally compiled a collection of images of the major deities and historical figures in Tibetan Buddhism, which became models for later generations.
Rölpai Dorje is shown at the center of this composition, swathed in a magnificent red brocade surplice. He wears the yellow hat of the Gelugpa School, and holds the vajra (diamond scepter) and the ghanta (bell), the two key symbols of tantric Buddhism, in his hands. His face is depicted in a naturalistic way, in constrast to the idealization so common in Tibetan portraits of great teachers. His throne is draped in a red cloth with gold brocade medallions, and the arm chairs end in elaborately carved dragon heads. At the lama's feet is a table set with the traditional implements of Tibetan Buddhist ritual. Immediately behind him, on his right a lotus blossom supports a sword, and on his left, the book of knowledge: these are the attributes of Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and also associate Rôlpai Dorje with Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa order.
Rölpai Dorje is surrounded by other figures who illustrate his place in a spiritual lineage: Above, from the viewer's left to right, are figures of Chakrasamvara in his yab-yum aspect; Tsongkhapha; and the Bodhisattva Manjusri. Rölpai Dorje initiated the Kanxi emperor into the Chakrasamvara tantra, and the other two figures are mentioned above. In the lower register, again from the viewer's left to right, appear Yamantaka, conquerer of death, riding a bull; Mahakala, trampling figures who represent obstacles to the faith; and Palden Lhamo, a goddess riding a donkey, protector of the dharma. Rölpai Dorje is known to have taken Mahakala and Palden Lhamo as his personal protector deities.
References:
Berger, Patricia. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist art and political authority in Qing China. University of Hawaii Press, 2003.
Berger, Patricia. "Lineages of Form: Buddhist portraiture in the Manchu Court." The Tibet Journal, XXVIII, no 1/2, 2003: 109–146.
Henss, Michael. "Rölpai Dorje—Teacher of the Empire," excerpt in Chinese Imperial Patronage: Treasures from Temples and Palaces, Vol.II, publ. by Christopher Bruckner, Asian Art Gallery, London (n.d.):97–109.
Wang, Xiangyun. Tibetan Buddhism at the Court of the Qing: the life and work of Lcang Skya Rol Pa'i Rdo Rje (1717-1786), Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1995.
Palace Museum, Beijing, ed., Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism collected in the Qing Pallac e, 1992
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A painting in ink, mineral pigments, and gold on paper. The painting would have originally been framed in concentric strips of silk, but the silk has been trimmed and the painting placed in a Western-style frame.
Subject Matter
A portrait of an Rölpai Dorje ("the Playful Vajra," 1717–1786), spiritual adviser to Emperor Kangxi of Qing dynasty China and the leading authority on Tibetan Buddhism in China for much of the 18th century.
A Mongolian, Dragpa Sonam—his personal name— was identified at age 3 as the reincarnation of the first Changkya Huthugtu, who had served at the Qing court as preceptor to the Yongzheng emperor. At age 7, Dragpa Sonam was captured and taken to Beijing, where he was educated at the Songzhu Temple, a famous center of Tibetan Buddhist studies. He became fluent in Mongolian, Manchurian, and Chinese as well as in the dual worlds of the Qing court and the Mongol-Tibetan monastery.
Rölpai Dorje was eventually appointed to the highest rank for a Tibetan monk in China, and given charge of all the Buddhist monasteries. He oversaw the refurbishing of a palace building at the Yonghegong, a Tibetan temple, and designed and furnished the Yuhuage as a private imperial chapel for Tibetan Buddhist practice. He frequently served as an advisor on diplomatic issues concerning China's relationship with Tibet, and developed close relationships with both the Dalai and Panchen Lamas.
In the artistic field, he was a major patron of both architecture and paintings and sculptures in the Tibetan style. An authority on iconography, he personally compiled a collection of images of the major deities and historical figures in Tibetan Buddhism, which became models for later generations.
Rölpai Dorje is shown at the center of this composition, swathed in a magnificent red brocade surplice. He wears the yellow hat of the Gelugpa School, and holds the vajra (diamond scepter) and the ghanta (bell), the two key symbols of tantric Buddhism, in his hands. His face is depicted in a naturalistic way, in constrast to the idealization so common in Tibetan portraits of great teachers. His throne is draped in a red cloth with gold brocade medallions, and the arm chairs end in elaborately carved dragon heads. At the lama's feet is a table set with the traditional implements of Tibetan Buddhist ritual. Immediately behind him, on his right a lotus blossom supports a sword, and on his left, the book of knowledge: these are the attributes of Manjusri, the bodhisattva of wisdom, and also associate Rôlpai Dorje with Tsongkhapa, founder of the Gelugpa order.
Rölpai Dorje is surrounded by other figures who illustrate his place in a spiritual lineage: Above, from the viewer's left to right, are figures of Chakrasamvara in his yab-yum aspect; Tsongkhapha; and the Bodhisattva Manjusri. Rölpai Dorje initiated the Kanxi emperor into the Chakrasamvara tantra, and the other two figures are mentioned above. In the lower register, again from the viewer's left to right, appear Yamantaka, conquerer of death, riding a bull; Mahakala, trampling figures who represent obstacles to the faith; and Palden Lhamo, a goddess riding a donkey, protector of the dharma. Rölpai Dorje is known to have taken Mahakala and Palden Lhamo as his personal protector deities.
References:
Berger, Patricia. Empire of Emptiness: Buddhist art and political authority in Qing China. University of Hawaii Press, 2003.
Berger, Patricia. "Lineages of Form: Buddhist portraiture in the Manchu Court." The Tibet Journal, XXVIII, no 1/2, 2003: 109–146.
Henss, Michael. "Rölpai Dorje—Teacher of the Empire," excerpt in Chinese Imperial Patronage: Treasures from Temples and Palaces, Vol.II, publ. by Christopher Bruckner, Asian Art Gallery, London (n.d.):97–109.
Wang, Xiangyun. Tibetan Buddhism at the Court of the Qing: the life and work of Lcang Skya Rol Pa'i Rdo Rje (1717-1786), Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1995.
Palace Museum, Beijing, ed., Cultural Relics of Tibetan Buddhism collected in the Qing Pallac e, 1992
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A Jina is encircled by a giant halo of ref, green, blue, gold, and white. Within the halo are different creatures, including a tiger, bird, naga, and devotees. The Jina sits nude on a throne with his legs crossed and hands together. Above him are clouds in the sky, and below a monk and devotees.
Subject Matter
This is an illustration in a Digambara Jain manuscript of verse 34 of the Bhaktamara Stotra.
This verse praises the glorious halo that surrounds the Jina on his Enlightenment. The presence of the halo is one of the eight pr?tih?rya or so-called miraculous manifestations that accompany the Jina after his Enlightenment. Here the verse describes how the Jina’s halo of light puts to shame all the heavenly bodies. Greater than a multitude of suns, it is also gentler than the moon at night. The poet means to say that the light of the Jina’s halo is comforting not burning, something that is said in Sanskrit poetry of the light of the moon. At the same time, the light of the Jina is as brilliant as the light of countless suns. And by this seeming paradox the poet tells us that the light of the Jina’s halo is not of this world. The halo with its concentric circles also suggests the miraculous preaching assembly, which in turn alerts us to the marvelous appearance of the halo. Like the preaching assembly it is filled with beings of different realms of rebirth: humans, animals, and gods. The small crowned figure at the bottom worshipping the Jina is probably the god Indra.
Label Copy
Gallery Rotation Spring/Summer 2011
Jina venerated by a monk, layman, and
cobras from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.171
Jina venerated by a monk, men and women, a naga, and animals from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi School
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.170
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, the Jina is surrounded by Jain devotees: a naga (half human, half serpent), animals, royalty, and lay people. In the lower register the monk leads two men in prayer. On another page, another sky-clad (nude) monk prays to a Jina elevated slightly above him. Below them a lay person in a lotus pond holds prayer beads and looks toward the monk as if for guidance. Cobras often appear in Jain texts and imagery as an obstacle to overcome, and in this image two cobras rise ferociously before the devotee.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
The horizontal folio from a Kalpasutra manuscript consists of seven lines of text to the left and center broken by a squarish gold symbol framed in a red line and cusped blue lines. Gold diamond shapes framed in red are at the sides, with a vertical red line between the one on the left and the text. Between the text and the right diamond shape there is a painting consisting of three registers of figures against a red ground. The top row depicts three laymen wearing crowns, the middle two monks and a nun and the bottom row three nuns.
Subject Matter
Some of the earliest Indian paintings on paper are found in manuscripts of the Kalpasutra, a popular text that recounts the lives the jinas or “spiritual victors” of the Jaina religion. The paper was cut into horizontal pages, following a long tradition of palm-leaf manuscripts. In paper as in earlier palm leaf books, loose-leaf pages were flipped, bottom to top, as one read them; the verso (back or reverse side) of one folio would be seen with the recto (front side) of the following page.
Here monks and nuns sit in rows offering homage to one of the jinas or a teacher, who probably was depicted on the preceding folio. The convention of depicting the faces in profile with a projecting “further eye” is common in early painting throughout northern India. It is only in the early sixteenth century that this “further eye” disappears. This manuscript page is the earliest painting in the exhibition.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
Indian book arts originated in the form of paintings on palm leaves secured between wooden covers. Leaves were pierced in one or two places to allow a cord to be threaded through and bound around the covers. Early manuscripts made from paper, such as this one, preserved the horizontal shape of palm leaf manuscripts but increasingly expanded in format to provide a taller, less restrictive surface. The ubiquitous red ground of earlier palm-leaf manuscript paintings remains, but the chromatic range is extended by the introduction of gold and ultramarine. Golden orbs mimic the perforation holes traditionally provided for the binding cord, though no holes have been made. Here, they are purely decorative, referencing the conventions of a sacrosanct format. Such continuity is particularly appropriate for this canonical text, a copy of the Kalpasutra (Book of Ritual), which provides an extended biography of Mahavira and establishes his historical position as the twenty-fourth tirthankara.
(Label for UMMA South and Southeast Asia Gallery Opening Rotation, March 2009)
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This drawing depicts a fresco executed by Giovanni Battista Pozzo (c. 1563-1591) for the Peretti Chapel, Santa Susanna, Rome. The scene is the conversion of St. Genesius, a third-century actor who was about to perform a play ridiculing the rite of baptism. He saw a vision during his performance of angels holding a book with his sins and Genesius converted on the spot.
It has been suggested by Szilvia Bodnár that this drawing, and another drawing showing this composition in the collection of the Albertina, predate the final fresco, which is in a horizontal format while the two drawings are portrait format.
Inscription
Inscribed, l.r. in brown ink in an old hand: Ventura Salmunbin On verso, l.r.: Falchenbusch
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A nude monk on the top left sits before a Jina at top right. Three Hindu gods, Harihara, Garuda, and Nandi venerate the Jina in the bottom registers.
Subject Matter
A book like this would have been comissioned by a lay devotee to illustrate canonical Jain texts as well as demonstrate peity. Texts like these would have been used for meditation and monastic education.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.213
Earnest Patton
United States, born 1935
Man in Business Suit
1970–92
Carved and painted wood
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.212
Sherman Lambdin
United States, born 1948
Red Devil Bird
1970–91
Painted wood twig
Gift of the Daniel and Harriet Fusfeld Folk Art Collection, 2002/1.211
Cooper, Lambdin, and Patton are all professional Kentucky “whittlers,” or folk carvers. Southern carvers often include religious references in their works. Here, Cooper’s figure refers to the lyrics of a traditional African American spiritual, while Patton’s cane snake is a common nineteenth-century folk art symbol that has survived to contemporary times. Carved cane snakes were an African art tradition carried to the American South by enslaved West Africans, for whom snake imagery held spiritual significance.
(Out of the Ordinary, 2010)
Born near Flemingsburg, Kentucky in 1931, Ronald Cooper did not begin to produce art until 1984 when a serious automobile accident left him disabled. Shortly after the accident, Ronald Cooper and his wife Jessie left Marion, Ohio where Ronald worked on an assembly line. They returned to Flemingsburg, Kentucky, where they still live today.
Cooper began whittling animals in the mountain craft style, then moved on to produce larger, more intricate wooden sculptures. Both Coopers are artists and they often collaborate on their works. Jessie Cooper explains: "We each do our separate thing. But if I need something carved, he carves, and I sometimes paint on his."
Inspired by Ronald Cooper’s fundamentalist Christian beliefs, this work depicts the popular Biblical image of Christ holding people in his hands, sheltering them from evil. The angels affixed to Christ’s arms on wooden pegs also watch over Christ’s people as an extension of Christ’s own vigilance. This image serves to remind people of Christ’s love, understanding, and constant presence in their lives.
Lindsay Meehan
Modern and Contemporary Art Intern
2002
Inscription
ON TOP SIDE OF BASE. Inscribed in black marker: He's go / you & me Brother / in his hands / Ronald Cooper 92
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Vintage gelatin silver contact print. Black and white image of a nun stitching a hole in linens, with figures of saints looking down from the tabletop.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Eight worshippers sit to the right of a sky-clad (nude) Jina and monk. They each raise beads in their hands. Below them a struggle is depicted. Two men in shorts wrestle, while a snake, tiger, and elephant rera up beside a fire.
Subject Matter
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library.
Label Copy
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library. Over the centuries, monastic libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns, who were themselves discouraged from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, they are shown receiving veneration from the laity (including princes), animals, plants, and even fire and water. On another, a prince is venerating the Jina in the midst of a battle.
Winter 2011 Gallery Rotation
Jina and battle scene from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.168
Jina and battle scene from a Digambara Jain manuscript
India, Rajasthan, Sirohi
18th century
Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. Leo S. Figiel and Dr. and Mrs. Steven J. Figiel, 1975/2.169
In the Jain religion, book production reflects the integral relationship among the laity, monastic community, and the Jina, or enlightened Jain teacher. The dedication of sacred books for shrines is required of devotees, and while commissioning a book fulfills the lay obligation of charity, beholding a book helps the individual achieve the proper mental state for spiritual guidance. It was customary for a lay donor to commission a copy of a text for presentation to his spiritual teacher and ultimately to the temple library. Over the centuries, monastic libraries received great quantities of texts, which were employed in the instruction of monks and nuns, who were themselves discouraged from practicing the art of painting: one text expressly warns of the power of painting to arouse sensual feelings.
In these colorful pages, both the golden-hued Jina seated on a simple throne and the monk who venerates him are naked, identifying them as Digambara (sky-clad) Jina. On one page, they are shown receiving veneration from the laity (including princes), animals, plants, and even fire and water. On another, a prince is venerating the Jina in the midst of a battle.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A image of a standing figure in a monk's habit; the damaged condition makes it impossible to read ayny inscriptions that might have once identified the figure.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A man seated on a throne under a canopy at the right looks toward a group of standing figures at the left. A group of soldiers in helmets and armor and spears surround a tall bearded man who stands looking at the seated official. In the distance is a view of a town in a landscape and at the feet of the seated man is a dog.
Subject Matter
After his arrest, Christ was taken to several authorities in Jerusalem, including Pontius Pilate and Caiaphas, the high priest and member of the Sanhedrin where Christ underwent beatings and questioning. The scene Dürer portrayed was the moment of Caiaphas' outrage when Christ, asked by Caiaphas if he is the Messiah, answers, "You have said so."
Label Copy
Albrecht Dürer
Germany, 1471–1528
Christ Before Caiaphas, from the Small Woodcut Passion
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A group of figures at the left stand in a vaulted space under a cross. They look towards the lower right of the composition where a man holding a standard with a cross on top is bending forward and offering his hand to an old bearded man in an arched doorway. Above the doorway are several fantastical figures with beaked or animal heads and arms with claws.
Subject Matter
After his death and before the Resurrection, Christ descended into Hell to bring out righteous people who had lived before him, including Adam and Eve, Moses, and other Old Testament prophets. Here Christ holds a standard in his left hand while he brings out of hell one of these patriarchs with his right hand. Other redeemed figures look on as the man at the lower right is released from Hell.
Label Copy
Albrecht Dürer
Germany, 1471–1528
Christ in Limbo [The Harrowing of Hell], from the Small Woodcut Passion
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A surplice (asquare robe of patched brocade), worn by high-ranking Buddhist monks. This example is Japanese, but the same type of surplice is found in Chinese and Korean Buddhist traditions.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
In this painting, a mischievous demon is depicted in priest’s garb begging for alms.
Subject Matter
This painting is an example of Otsu-e, a type of folk painting originating not far from Kyoto in the present-day Shiga Prefecture towns of Otsu, Oiwake, and Otani. Otsu-e were produced with cheap local materials and stencils were used to facilitate mass production, making them affordable even to the lower classes.
By the latter half of the seventeenth century, Otsu-e became more secular. This humorous painting among other Otsu-e had strong popular appeal, and made their way into the art and literature of famous Edo period figures. Otsu-e with iconography associated with beneficial powers would later function as amulets.
Label Copy
These paintings are examples of Otsu-e, a type of folk painting originating not far from Kyoto in the present-day Shiga Prefecture towns of Otsu, Oiwake, and Otani. Due to Otsu’s prime location on the Eastern Sea Road linking Kyoto with Tokyo, paintings from Oiwake and Otani eventually became subsumed under the title of Otsu-e. Initially religious in content, Otsu-e proliferated in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century when Christianity was officially banned; they could be purchased easily and hung in the home as proof of Buddhist piety. Otsu-e were produced with cheap local materials and stencils were used to facilitate mass production, making them affordable even to the lower classes.
By the latter half of the seventeenth century, Otsu-e became more secular. The Thunder God (Raijin), for example, a powerful and ferocious figure, could be seen comically fishing for his drum, carelessly dropped in the ocean. Mischievous demons, like the one on display, were depicted in priest’s garb begging for alms. Here the painting is accompanied by text, which became common on images with moralistic messages poking fun at society. These humorous paintings had strong popular appeal, and made their way into the art and literature of famous Edo period figures. Otsu-e with iconography associated with beneficial powers would later function as amulets.
(Gallery Rotation Fall 2011)
Gallery Rotation Fall 2011
Demon Soliciting Alms (Oni no Nembutsu)
Japan, Edo Period (1615–1868)
18th century
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
Museum purchase for the James Marshall Plumer Memorial Collection, 1964/2.102
Benkei with a Halberd (Naginata Benkei)
Japan, Edo Period (1615–1868)
18th century
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
Museum purchase for the James Marshall Plumer Memorial Collection, 1964/2.101
The Thunder God Fishing for his Drum
Japan, Taisho Period (1912–26)
20th century
Hanging scroll, ink and color on paper
Gift of Dr. and Mrs. J.E. Val-Mejias, M.D., 1987/1.368
These paintings are examples of Otsu-e, a type of folk painting originating not far from Kyoto in the present-day Shiga Prefecture towns of Otsu, Oiwake, and Otani. Due to Otsu’s prime location on the Eastern Sea Road linking Kyoto with Tokyo, paintings from Oiwake and Otani eventually became subsumed under the title of Otsu-e. Initially religious in content, Otsu-e proliferated in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century when Christianity was officially banned; they could be purchased easily and hung in the home as proof of Buddhist piety. Otsu-e were produced with cheap local materials and stencils were used to facilitate mass production, making them affordable even to the lower classes.
By the latter half of the seventeenth century, Otsu-e became more secular. The Thunder God (Raijin), for example, a powerful and ferocious figure, could be seen comically fishing for his drum, carelessly dropped in the ocean. Mischievous demons, like the one on display, were depicted in priest’s garb begging for alms. Here the painting is accompanied by text, which became common on images with moralistic messages poking fun at society. These humorous paintings had strong popular appeal, and made their way into the art and literature of famous Edo period figures. Otsu-e with iconography associated with beneficial powers would later function as amulets.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
A portable painting done in ink and gouache on loose-weave, primed cotton, surround by two strips of fabric. This painting has suffered greatly from water damage, running the pigments together.
Subject Matter
A portrait of a lama (teacher), dressed in red and monk's robes and a red pandita (scholar's) hat, in confrontation with a blue-faced, three-eyed demon. The lama may be tentatively identified as the early 14th-century master Yungdron Dorje Pal. He is shown here holding a 'kila' dagger in his right hand, while he extends his right hand to offer a skull cup to the blue demon.
Three monks in red robes, two of whom wear folded pandita hats, look on the scene from the lower left corner; in the lower right-hand corner, the blue-skinned dharmapala Mahakala tramples a prone figure. To the viewer's upper left is a meditation deity, a yab-yum pair with flame-red skin. At the upper right, a monk-scholar sits calmly within a blue orb, reading from a text.
Other paintings with this same composition are illustated on http://wwe.himalayanart.org, as follows:
• Rubin Museum of Art in New York City, acc. #F1997.9.1. A
• Erie Art Museum (accession number not given), also in very poor condition
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
Based on comparison with an embroidered portrait in the American Museum of Natural History, this image may be tenatively identified as a portrait of Go Lotsawa (1392–1481), a revered scholar and author of 'The Blue Annals,' a history of Tibetan Buddhism until his own time. Go Lotsawa is the larger figure seated on a lotus pedestal at the left of the painting; the other two figures have not yet been identified.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This pair of finely carved bust-length figures depicts two men in ecclesiastical garb. On the right appears an older figure who wears elaborate vestments and a papal tiara with a book in his left hand. His deeply lined and wrinkled face conveys a patient wisdom and authority as he stares directly ahead. His more youthful companion, dressed in a simpler collared robe and brimless cap, glances introspectively aside. He grasps an unfurled scroll in his left hand and a diminutive lion stares out from its perch on his left shoulder.
Subject Matter
This pair of bust-length figures represents an aged Saint Gregory the Great crowned with a papal tiara and a younger Saint Jerome with a miniature lion, his usual attribute, resting on his shoulder. Due to the fundamental importance of their writings in Catholicism they came to be known as Doctors of the Church, and these two busts probably appeared alongside busts of the other two doctors, Saints Ambrose and Augustine, in the base of an elaborate carved altarpiece.
Label Copy
March 28, 2009
The striking naturalism and powerful characterization of these busts endow them with a palpable presence, almost as if one stood before the saints themselves. Saint Jerome (about 340–420), who wrote the authoritative Latin translation of the Bible, is depicted as an introspective youth with a miniature lion—more charming than fierce—perched on his shoulder. At his side, the influential pope Gregory I (about 540–604) holds an open book and wears a papal tiara on his careworn brow. The pair of saints came from a large, spectacular altarpiece outfitted with doors and brimming with sculpture. Within this complex ensemble, Jerome and Gregory leaned out from the horizontal base of the altarpiece, known as a predella or Sarg, alongside similar busts of the sainted bishops Ambrose and Augustine. Together the four saints were known as the Doctors of the Church, since their writings provided a foundation for Christian theology and dogma in Western Europe.
The realism of such images made them potentially dangerous in the eyes of religious reformers. Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531), the zealous leader of the Reformation in Switzerland, decried the naturalism of religious art as a potential temptation to sin: “There stands a [Saint] Sebastian, a [Saint] Maurice and the gentle John the Evangelist, so cavalier, soldier-like and pimpish that the women have had to make confession about them.” Similar convictions led to the widespread destruction of religious imagery throughout German-speaking lands during the Reformation, which may explain why this engaging pair of saints is all that remains of what must have once been a much larger altarpiece.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
This unfinished painted study depicts a crowd of figures gathered around three richly dressed men and a woman and child, who appear on a flight of stairs near the entrance to a large building decorated with classical columns and pilasters. An elderly bald man wearing a red cloak trimmed with ermine kneels with his head bowed at the top of the stairs before a kneeling woman who holds an infant in her right arm. Another man wearing a turban decorated with a large feather stands behind the kneeling man and holds a gold censer hanging from a chain in his left hand. A third richly dressed man stands at the bottom of the stairs with his back turned toward the viewer. A number of other figures crowd around this central group from the sides. A large ox sits in the right foreground with a donkey standing behind it.
Subject Matter
This painting depicts the three Magi who came to pay homage to the infant Christ, an episode mentioned only briefly in the Gospel of Matthew (2:11) but greatly embellished in art and legend over the centuries. Here the Magi, represented as kings in accord with long established tradition, appear on the steps of a grand building decorated with classical columns and pilasters. The foremost magus, the elderly Melchior, kneels before the Virgin and infant Christ, while Balthasar, sporting an exotic turban, stands behind him holding a smoking censer, a reference to the gifts of frankincense and myrrh given by the magi. The third magus, Caspar, stands at the bottom of the steps with his back toward the viewer.
Label Copy
March 28 2009
In this unfinished painted study Quellinus represents the three Magi who came to pay homage to the infant Jesus, an episode mentioned briefly in the Gospel of Matthew (2:11) but greatly embellished in art and legend over the centuries. Here the Magi, represented as kings in accord with long-established tradition, appear surmounting the steps of a grand building decorated with classical columns and pilasters in order to present their gifts to the Virgin and Child. The open brushwork, composition, and grand architectural setting reveal the influence of Venetian artists, the painter Paolo Veronese (1528–1588) in particular, whose work had a profound impact upon Quellinus when he visited Venice in 1660 and 1661. Quellinus returned to his home of Antwerp after his trip to Italy, where he established himself as a painter and, in 1662, married Cornelia Teniers, daughter of David Teniers the Younger, whose work hangs nearby. He enjoyed a successful career, even achieving the distinction of becoming court painter to the Habsburg emperor in 1680.
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please fax a request to the attention of Orian Neumann, Assistant Registrar, at 734-474-7643. For other queries, email orian@umich.edu.edu.
