Guardian figure

Historical period(s)
Kamakura period, 1185-1333
Medium
Wood (Cryptomeria japonica)
Dimensions
H: 226.4 cm (89 1/8 in)
Geography
Japan
Credit Line
Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
Collection
Freer Gallery of Art
Accession Number
F1949.20
On View Location
Freer North Corridor
Classification(s)
Sculpture
Type

Figure: guardian

Keywords
Buddhism, Japan, Kamakura period (1185 - 1333)
Provenance

ca. 1235-?
Ebaradera 家原寺 (now Ebara-ji 家原寺), Sakai, Osaka prefecture, Japan, commissioned pair of guardian figures [1]

?-around 1932
Unidentified dealer in Nara, Japan acquired from temple [2]

Around 1932-1949
Hugues Le Gallais (1896-1964), purchased from dealer in Nara, Japan [3]

From 1949
The Freer Gallery of Art, purchased from Hugues Le Gallais [4]

Notes:
[1] See Akisato Rito, "Izumi meisho zue 和泉名所圖會" [book] Vol. 1 (Takahashi Heisuke, 1796) for an account of the history of the temple and its renovations, especially the one in 1245, when these wooden sculptures were likely commissioned. See also inscription of the temple name on the tenon, which projects downward from the sole of the left foot of F1949.20.

[2] Huges Le Gallais was the Ambassador of Luxembourg to the United States from 1940 through his retirement in 1958. In 1945, he was a member of the Luxembourg delegation to the San Francisco Conference that formed the United Nations. Before a career in foreign service, Le Gallais worked for the Luxembourg Steel Corporation. Between 1918 through 1938, he worked for the company in Paris, London, Saarbrücken, Tokyo, and Bombay. Le Gallais reported that he purchased the pair of sculptures (F1949.20 and F1949.21) from a "well known dealer in Nara" who had acquired them from the temple. See Hughes Le Gallais, "A Pair of Japanese Temple Guardians" in Gazette des Beaux Arts (September / October 1947), 122.

[3] See note 2.

[4] See invoice from Hugues Le Gallais, dated September 19, 1949, copy in object file.

Research completed December 23, 2022.

Previous Owner(s) and Custodian(s)

Ebara-ji 家原寺
Hugues Le Gallais 1896-1964

Published References
  • Art Tour. Washington, December 10, 1954. section B, p. 3.
  • Dr. John Alexander Pope, Thomas Lawton, Harold P. Stern. The Freer Gallery of Art. 2 vols., Washington and Tokyo, 1971-1972. cat. 95, vol. 2: p. 179.
  • Hosomi Ryoichi. Furiya Bijutsu no nio zo ni tsuite [The Nio Sculpture in the Freer Gallery]. no. 258, March 1960. p. 4.
  • John S. Major, Betty Belanus. Caravan to America: Living Arts of the Silk Road., 1st ed. Chicago. p. 20.
  • Masterpieces of Chinese and Japanese Art: Freer Gallery of Art handbook. Washington, 1976. p. 90.
  • Hugues Le Gallais. A Pair of Japanese Temple Guardians. 6th series, vol. 32, September-October 1947. pp. 115-124, fig. 5.
Collection Area(s)
Japanese Art
Web Resources
Google Cultural Institute
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