佛像网

尺寸: 画面 84.8 × 35.9 cm
年代: 14世纪
质地: 立轴；绢本墨绘、设色、金粉、切箔（kirikane）
风格: 日本
来源: 纽约大都会博物馆
参阅: 外部链接
鉴赏:
弥勒菩萨（Miroku Bosatsu / Bodhisattva Maitreya） 来迎图
Miroku Bosatsu (Bodhisattva Maitreya) in Welcoming Descent

在十四世纪的日本，大多数人相信自己生活在末法时代（mappō），在此期间，佛法既无法宣讲也难以听闻，灾祸更加频繁而严重。这幅画所描绘的是广受崇拜的弥勒（Miroku）菩萨——一位仁慈的菩萨。据佛经记载，弥勒与历史佛陀（释迦牟尼）来到此世之前所居的宇宙境界相同。将来某日，弥勒将以未来佛的身份于此世重生，开启一个精神复兴的时代。

在为这幅弥勒像作画时，画师使用了当时最璀璨、最昂贵的材料：石绿（green malachite）、石青（blue azurite），以及多种类型的金粉或金箔，绘制在最精美的丝绸上。为了描绘袈裟和背光，他运用了无数极为细小的切箔（kirikane）技法——这种技法正是该时期日本佛教绘画的典型特征。

In the 1300s in Japan, most people believed they lived in the End Times (mappō), during which Buddhist teachings could not be taught or heard, and calamities were more severe and frequent. This image shows the widely worshipped deity Miroku, a benevolent bodhisattva, who, according to scripture, resides in the same cosmic realm from which the historical Buddha came to this world. One day Miroku will be reborn here as the next Buddha, bringing about an age of spiritual renewal.

For this image of Miroku, the painter used the most brilliant, and costly, materials available: green malachite, blue azurite, and multiple types of gold on finest silk. To describe the robes and halo, he applied countless impossibly tiny strips of cut gold leaf, a technique called kirikane that is a hallmark of Japanese Buddhist paintings of this period.

来源:
Hōju-in Temple , Nara; Okabe Shun’ichi , Kyoto; [ Hosomi Ryō Japanese, Kyoto, until November 10, 1990; sold to Leighton R. Longhi]; [ Leighton R. Longhi Inc. , New York, until, 2022; sold to Utterberg]; [ David and Nayda Utterberg , Seattle, until March 22, 2022; sold at Christie's, New York]; [ Christie's, New York , Japanese and Korean Art Including the Collection of David and Nayda Utterberg, Mar. 22, 2022, lot 4; acquired by Sebastian Izzard]; Sebastian Izzard , New York, until 2024; donated to MMA

展览:
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. “Anxiety and Hope in Japanese Art,” April 8, 2023–July 14, 2024.

出版:\\
“Praying to the Buddha of the Future: Miroku Bosatsu in Welcoming Descent.” Orientations 56, no. 2 (March/April 2025) pp. 24–30. Narazaki Muneshige. “Miroku bosatsu zu 彌勒菩薩圖“ (A painting of the bodhisattva Miroku). Kokka 国華家 766 (January 1956). p. 23, pl. 5.
Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi Inc., [2019], pl, 7.
Japanese and Korean Art Including the Collection of David and Nayda Utterberg. New York: Christie's, New York, March 22, 2022, lot 4.