著者

田村 悦子

雑誌

美術研究 = The bijutsu kenkyu : the journal of art studies

巻号頁・発行日

no.233, pp.14-36, 1965-02-27

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Here introduced is a portrait of Priest Ryōe (1098-1186) who was the earliest leader of Shingon Buddhism in the Eikyūji which was perished at the end of the last century. In her paper con cerning the temple in the Bijutsu Kenkyu, No. 224, she made reference also to this portrait, only the photograph of which had been known since its owner had changed around 1940 or 1945. Recently the present owner was found by the author and she could make the investigation. This is painted on an unpatched wide cloth. The condition of preservation is good. The priest in light-gray drapery wears a yellowishbrown ornamental stole over it and has a rosary in the hands. He sits on a decorated dais obliquely represented. He looks old with grizzled eyebrows and deeply-lined forehead. Around his mouth, there is a distortion peculiar to copied works and knees are well rendered but flat. Both show that it is probably a copy of an earlier work. In the author's opinion, the fact that he sits on the front part of the dais and the fact that it lacks stable feeling are the proofs of its being a copy. The portraiture has a classic style keeping soft lines of the Heian Period and, by the comparison with this kind of works of the Kamakura Period, it is judged to be a work of the middle Kamakura Period, probably of the third quarter of the 13th century. Colours are rather thin. The whole picture, together with the colours of the cartouche and the ground, gives bright impression. The letters in the cartouche are of the Sesonji School in the latter half of the 13th century. The Eikyūji had been presided by the followers of Ryōe and prospered in the Kamakura Period, especially, around the time of Priest Gyōen, when many buildings were built and pictures and sculptures were produced. This painting was probably of this period.