During the SFUSD school closure, we’re offering free weekday admission to youth and families. Learn more …
During the SFUSD school closure, we’re offering free weekday admission to youth and families. Learn more …
During the SFUSD school closure, we’re offering free weekday admission to youth and families. Learn more …
Made more than 1,200 years ago, these guardian deities from a Japanese Buddhist temple are rare surviving examples of the ancient hollow dry-lacquer technique.
The deities Brahma and Indra (Bonten and Taishakuten)
approx. 730–750
Japan; Nara
Nara period (710–794)
Hollow dry lacquer
The Avery Brundage Collection, B65S13 and B65S12
Large-scale, hollow dry-lacquer statues like these are rare even in Japan, where most are designated as National Treasures or Important Cultural Properties. Brahma and Indra, known in Japan as Bonten and Taishakuten, were considered protective figures, and statues of the two deities were typically paired as attendants flanking a buddha or bodhisattva. This pair once belonged to the prominent Buddhist temple Kofukuji in Nara, Japan. Made in the eighth century, these statues are among the few surviving Brahma and Indra images from that period.
