English: Heian period (794-1185), early-mid 12th century

Handscroll, gold and silver on indigo-dyed paper, with gilt-copper floral-etched scroll ends; the frontispiece depicting Shaka Buddha preaching at Vulture Peak, flanked by two monks and two bodhisattvas; the accompanying long passage of scripture entitled Bussetsu daiai dohatsu deionkyo 佛説大愛道般泥洹経 With an inscribed wooden storage box 10 1/8 x 150 7/8in (25.7 x 383.4cm) 11 1/2in (29.2cm) height with rollers Footnotes Another scroll from this set was sold in these rooms, September 15, 2015, lot #2057

This gold-and-silver decorated sutra is part of the Issaikyo (Buddhist corpus), commonly known as Jingoji-kyo due to its association with the Jingo-ji temple complex in Takao, Kyoto. One of over 5,400 volumes in total, it was originally donated to by Emperor Go-Shirakawa (1127-1192) at the request of retired Emperor Toba (1103-1156). The Jingo-ji itself still retains 2,317 scrolls, all of which have been collectively designated Important Cultural Properties. Other illustrated scrolls from this set are in the collection of the Goto Art Museum (Nihon no shakyo ten [Exhibition of Copied Buddhist scripture in Japan], Sano Art Museum, 1980, p. 58, fig. 39 and p. 77); the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection (Miyeko Murase, Japanese Art: Selection from the Mary and Jackson Burke Collection, New York, 1975, pp. 42-43, pl. 11); the Art Institute of Chicago (2008.157; http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/193241); and Kyoto National Museum (www.kyohaku.go.jp/jp/dictio/shoseki/74jingoji.html).