Thank you for registering for our auction! You are required to provide: 1. Deposit; 保证金待商议; 2. Copy or images of ID card (front and back) or Passport 3. Images of Credit card (front and back).
HEIAN PERIOD (11TH CENTURY) Carved from cypress wood in single-block technique (ichiboku-zukuri) as the Guardian King shown in Chinese armor standing in a frontal pose on top of a defeated demon. The right arm is bent and rests forcefully on the right hip; the left arm is raised to hold a trident, now missing. His forceful expression matches the defiant energy of his pose, heightened by the drapery extending off the wrist and down from the shoulder. 49 ? in. (125 cm.) high
Setsu Gatodo, Tokyo, 31 October 1969.
Buddhist law. Clad in armor, they stand at the four corners of a Buddhist altar, protecting the principal image. Each represents one of the four cardinal directions.
The forceful face, scowling Jikokuten or Zochoten, stamping on a hapless, squirming demon, is the guardian of the east or south. His right hip thrusts to the side to suggest the possibility of forceful movement. He holds his weapon in his raised right hand. The swirling drapery of his sleeves and the thick train hanging down behind are deeply undercut in the bold fashion of Heian style. His exotic Chinese armor is carved with elaborate detail. A distinctive feature is the animal-mask buckle, sinking its teeth into the rolled sash at the waist.
The aggressive stance and grimacing demeanor are standard for these guardians, whose mission is to ward off evil.
For a similar work in the collection of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, see The Art of Japan - Masterpieces in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 1991), p. 31.