A rare and important embroidered silk icon of Ichiji Kinrin

Kamakura (1185-1333) or Muromachi period (1333–1573), 14th/15th century, the border 15th century

Dyed silk, with some details in human hair, finely embroidered in various stitches on an undyed silk tabby ground, mounted as a hanging scroll, the jikusaki (scroll ends) of gilt copper with sides worked with eight-petal lotus motifs; the figure of Ichiji Kinrin (One-Syllable Golden Wheel) bearing a serene facial expression, standing on a double lotus pedestal, the head surrounded by a kōhai (halo) with flamelike bands of colour, wearing a gold foliate crown, the dark hair descending down the shoulders, dressed in long, loose robes and scarves and adorned with numerous jewelled armbands, bracelets, and other personal ornaments, the hands held in the chiken'in (knowledge-fist gesture), the whole against a rich blue ground, the pedestal surrounded by a tiled-floor pattern, within an integral floral surround trimmed at a later date and surrounded by an orange silk twill border.

The results of a C14 test from RCD Lockinge no. RCD-8980 are consistent with the dating of the embroidered panel; the results of a C14 test from RCD Lockinge no. RCD-8982 are consistent with the dating of the twill border.

Ichiji Kinrin

Typically depicted in Besson Mandara (small-scale mandalas centred on a single deity), this deity-known also as Kinrin Butchō (Golden-Wheel Buddha-Crown)-personifies the single-syllable Sanskrit term bhrum (in Japanese, boron) that is held to encapsulate the virtues of all buddhas and bodhisattvas. In esoteric Buddhism Ichiji Kinrin takes two forms: either as Shaka (Shakyamuni) with a golden wheel in the palms of his hands or as Dainichi Nyorai with the hands, as here, in the chiken-in gesture. Although the Hosomi Dainichi is seated on a throne rather than standing on a pedestal, the icon shares many features with this image of Ichiji Kinrin, including the crown, the black locks of hair draped over the shoulders, the multicolored petals of the throne or pedestal, the rich blue floss silk background above, and the intricately patterned tiled embroidery below; unlike this Ichiji Kinrin, however, the Hosomi Dainichi retains all of its floral border.

Further Information

The scroll appears to be in the same mounting as that in which it was offered for sale at the 1922 Paris auction of the renowned collection of Charles Field Haviland, who had died twenty-six years earlier. A porcelain entrepreneur, Haviland was born in Westchester, N.Y. but moved to France in 1851 to work for the French company Haviland and Co. in Limoges. He left the company in 1859 and started his own business in partnership with his uncle, Richard F. Haviland, of New York, making porcelain that is still eagerly collected today. Haviland stayed in France, taking control of the Alluaud factory at Limoges in 1876, continuing to manage it until his retirement in 1881 and remaining a partner for the rest of his life. The title page of the catalogue for the Paris auction in which the present lot was offered in 1922 mentions that it was held pursuant to a judgment delivered by the Civil Tribunal of Limoges, suggesting that some kind of legal dispute must have arisen between Haviland's death in 1896 and the date of the sale. It is likely that Haviland would have acquired this lot during his retirement, when the French craze for Japanese art was at its height and - thanks in part to the influence of his contemporary Émile Guimet (1836-1918) - French collectors sought out not just Japanese prints but also important examples of early Buddhist art.