Two beautifully painted handscrolls on paper (I: 280 x 12,395; II: 280 x 13,290 mm.). [Japan]: 1840 (date of colophon).

It is difficult to overstate the great beauty of these two illustrated scrolls depicting the life of Shinran, a key figure in Japanese Buddhism. The artist, while anonymous, was extremely skilled in portraying scenes from Shinran’s life, employing large amounts of gold, silver, sprays of golden mist (called kindei “golden mud”) to depict clouds, and thick pigments to give 3-D effects. The images show architectural details; complex garden landscapes; the different seasons signalled by colorful flora; richly detailed... More