How a 19th-century diplomat preserved a lost masterpiece of Japanese Buddhist art
In short: This video examines a full-scale tracing of a 7th-century wall painting from the Horyuji temple in Nara. Commissioned by a British diplomat in 1880, this rare document offers a vital record of ancient Buddhist art that might otherwise have been lost to history.
In 1879, British diplomat Ernest Satow visited the Kondo of Horyuji temple and recognized the immense cultural value of its wall paintings. He commissioned the artist Sakurai Koun to create a precise copy of wall number 9, known as the Pure Land of Miroku, with work commencing in May 1880. Satow intended for these tracings to inspire further documentation of the site, gifting a duplicate to Machida Hisanari, the head of the Museum Bureau.
The tracing eventually reached England, where it became part of the Anderson Collection at the British Museum in 1881. It remained largely overlooked until 2007, when Princess Akiko of Mikasa rediscovered the artifact while conducting research for her doctoral thesis.
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Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Conservation of a wall painting tracing from the Kondo of Horyuji temple, Nara
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