The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 2, 2023

Guardian King of the North (Bishamonten)

毘沙門天像

1185–1333

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185-1333)

Wood with gold polychromy

Overall: 76.8 x 28.6 cm (30 1/4 x 11 1/4 in.); Base: 5.2 cm (2 1/16 in.)

James Parmelee and Cornelia Blakemore Warner Funds 1959.135

Location

not on view

Description

In Buddhism, Bishamonten is one of four kings who protect the cardinal directions. He stands with a stupa symbolizing the Buddhist teachings and relics of the Buddha in the palm of his left hand, and a spear to foil the enemies of Buddhism in his right. He crushes a demon beneath his feet.

Provenance
?-1959
(Mathias Komor, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1959-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Ikeda, Shōtarō 池田庄太郎. Kobijutsu shūho: Ikeda Daisendō 古美術集芳: 池田大仙堂. Kyōto: Yamamoto Koshū, 1941. Reproduced: vol. 2, pls. 37-38
Lee, Sherman E. “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 46, no. 10, 1959, pp. 210–231. Reproduced: p. 221; Mentioned; p. 229 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. “The Divine: And the Terrible.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 48, no. 1, 1961, pp. 5–9. Mentioned: pp. 5-9; Reproduced: p. 7, fig. 2 www.jstor.org
Zenzo Shimizu 清水善三. "Japanese Sculptures in America and Canada," Ars Buddhica 佛教藝術, no. 126 (September 1979), part I, pp. 67-88. Reproduced: fig. 12
Exhibition history

Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 12-July 16, 2003).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1959.135