ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
18th century wooden sculpture of the Buddhist monk Kūkai, founder of the Shingon school of Buddhism in Japan. He was born as Saeki no Mao in 774 and died in 835.
He was given the posthumous name Kōbō Daishi, which is the name heading the museum label for this piece of art, though the - at least for me - more familiar name of Kūkai appears later in the same text. The description actually calls him Kōbō Daishi (also known as Kūkai), in the English text, but says Kūkai (Kōbō Daishi) in the Japanese. My guess is, though I might be wrong, that Kōbō Daishi is the more correct way to call him, but he is more familiar in Japan under the name Kūkai.
The age of the sculpture, made a thousand years after he was born, probably indicates that this shall not be taken as a real portrait of likeness but is rather meant to capture his essence.
Tags: tokyo tokio 東京 japan Nippon japón japon Giappone tokyo national museum Nationalmuseum Tokio Museo Nacional de Tokio Musée national de Tokyo Museo nazionale di Tokyo musée museum museo Tokyos nationalmuseum Kūkai Kukai Kōbō Daishi Koubou Daishi Kobo daishi wood wooden trä Holz madera bois legno scultura sculpture escultura skulptur 彫刻 statue staty statua estatua 塑像 博物館 東京国立博物館 空海 弘法大師
© All Rights Reserved
Japanese clay figurines called dogū (in Japanese written 土偶 which translates to earthen figure) were popular in the Late and Final Jōmon period, with these two figurines dating to sometime 1000-400 B.C.
They are found all other Japan (except Okinawa), but much more prevalent in Easter Japan, and their function is unknown - not that that stops people from speculating of course. But it is prehistory, there are no written records and when it comes to believes archaeology can't reveal everything.
Japan is also known for the Haniwa figuries of the Kofun period, more than 600 years later - but those were clearly used for funeral purposes in a way these are not, and there is no obvious connection between them and the Jōmon dogū, neither in function nor looks. Furthermore, there was no tradition of clay figurines in the period in between, in the Yayoi period (ca 300 BC - 300 AD).
For examples of Haniwa figurines see:
www.flickr.com/photos/dameboudicca/16545691348/
www.flickr.com/photos/dameboudicca/32145980021/
www.flickr.com/photos/dameboudicca/30001595682/
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
Tags: tokyo tokio 東京 japan Nippon japón japon Giappone tokyo national museum Nationalmuseum Tokio Museo Nacional de Tokio Musée national de Tokyo Museo nazionale di Tokyo musée museum museo Tokyos nationalmuseum dogu jomon Jōmon Dogū 博物館 東京国立博物館 縄文時代 縄文 土偶
© All Rights Reserved
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
From a time when butter did not come in neat packaging, so needed something for presentation (and in a time without fridges, it probably kept a bit better like this). This one from circa 1780, in white porcelain with blue chinoiserie motif which was incredibly popular at the time, was made by the English manufacturer Lowesoft Porcelain Manufactory, which was in production from ca 1760 to ca 1802.
Tags: England Inglaterra Angleterre Inghilterra イングランド Britain great britain united kingdom UK storbritannien Vereinigtes Königreich Reino Unido Royaume-Uni Regno Unito イギリス Cambridge ケンブリッジ Fitzwilliam museum Butter dish smörask smörbytta Beurrier Chinoiserie chinería Cineserie Kineseri Lowesoft porcelain porslin Porzellan porcelana porcelaine porcellana 磁器
© All Rights Reserved
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
An earthenware plate commemorating the king (at the time of the plate's making): Charles II of England, and his wife, queen Catherine of Braganza. The plate dates to sometime in between 1662 (the year of the couple's marriage) and 1665. And the quite eye-catching signature, Thomas Toft, is the maker of the plate. He was a famous Staffordshire potter.
On display at Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge.
Tags: England Inglaterra Angleterre Inghilterra イングランド Britain great britain united kingdom UK storbritannien Vereinigtes Königreich Reino Unido Royaume-Uni Regno Unito イギリス Cambridge ケンブリッジ Fitzwilliam museum Charles II Catherine of Braganza Catarina de Bragança Earthenware lergods Irdengut Loza terracotta Thomas Toft 土器
© All Rights Reserved
ⓒRebecca Bugge, All Rights Reserved
Do not use without permission.
A so called pew group - a somewhat misleading name since the benches usually depicted on these objects are rather the type to be found in a secular setting with the very tall backs which would ill suit a church.
These figure-groups, usually depicting two or three people, are of a type called Staffordshire figures. The name is a geographic term, they were mainly made in Staffordshire, but by independent potters, who did not always mark their work either (so we do not know exactly who made this one, or others of the same kind). They are made of salt-glazed stoneware, with clay details. And they ARE weird. They seems to all have been made in the 1740s and meant as decorations in well to do homes (others would most likely not have been able to afford them anyway). One theory is that they are meant as portraits of the acquirer, but if that is the case, they are really not flattering.
These figurines are today extremely rare - but the Fitzwilliam Museum (where I saw this) has six (and a possible modern fake)
Tags: England Inglaterra Angleterre Inghilterra イングランド Britain great britain united kingdom UK storbritannien Vereinigtes Königreich Reino Unido Royaume-Uni Regno Unito イギリス Cambridge ケンブリッジ sculplture skulptur escultura scultura statue staty estatua statua pew group Staffordshire Staffordshire figure Staffordshire Potteries pottery keramik ceramics céramique cerámica stengods stoneware Steinzeug gres grès ceramica 炻器 陶芸
© All Rights Reserved