Artwork Page for Shōtoku Taishi at Sixteen

Details / Information for Shōtoku Taishi at Sixteen

Shōtoku Taishi at Sixteen

聖徳太子孝養像及び二王子像

1400s-1500s

Japan, Muromachi period

(1392–1573)
Medium
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Measurements
Image: 121.9 x 57.5 cm (48 x 22 5/8 in.); Overall: 207.3 x 83.2 cm (81 5/8 x 32 3/4 in.)
Credit Line
Severance and Greta Millikin Collection 1964.278
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
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Did You Know?

One name for Shōtoku is "Prince Stable Door."

Description

The 16-year-old prince regent Shōtoku Taishi, garbed in Buddhist vestments, bears an incense burner. He is flanked by two attendants; one carries religious texts in a box and the other holds a nyoi ceremonial Buddhist scepter. The two
are sometimes identified as Shōtoku’s younger brother, Prince Eguri, and eldest son, Prince Yamashiro. Shōtoku has come to pray for his father, Emperor Yōmei (reigned 585–87), who is ill and on the point of death. Upon a miraculous
recovery, the emperor accepted Buddhism.
A hanging scroll depicts Shōtoku Taishi as a youth with light skin and hair looped at his ears standing between two attendants against a dark background. Turned slightly to our right, he wears a patterned red and black robe and holds a long-handled incense burner. To our left, a smaller youth carries a box. To our right, another holds a long-handled fan. Each wears patterned robes within a floral border.

Shōtoku Taishi at Sixteen

1400s-1500s

Japan, Muromachi period (1392–1573)

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