UEDA TOSA KEIHI (17TH CENTURY)

Ink and colours on silk. Hanging scroll, brocade mounting. The colophon pasted on the lower reverse dates the painting to the year 1662 and states that the holy picture was painted by Ueda Tosa Keihi. After having been destroyed, the painting was restored again to its original beauty by the writer of the colophon in 1774. The icon depicts the famous treasure statue of Fukúkenjaku Kannon placed in Nantendó octagonal treasury of the Kófukuji Temple in Nara. The statue was created by the founder of the Kei school Kōkei (active 1175–1200) in 1189. Fukúkenjaku Kannon is one of the manifestations of Avalokiteshvara, the God of Mercy. He is depicted in a richly gold-decorated flowing attire and a high crown with a standing statue of Miroku Buddha among flowery jewels surrounded by four concentric halos around his head and a larger circular halo around his body. His rounded face with prolonged downcast eyes and a sad small mouth is depicted in the older masculine form with a moustache, and his body has four pairs of hands.