Artwork Page for Monju with Five Hair Knots

Details / Information for Monju with Five Hair Knots

Monju with Five Hair Knots

五髻文殊像

late 1200s–early 1300s

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185–1333)
Medium
Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold, and cut gold on silk
Measurements
Overall: 102 x 42.6 cm (40 3/16 x 16 3/4 in.); with knobs: 190.5 x 65.5 cm (75 x 25 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1971.21
Public Domain
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Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

This painting is exemplary of the Kamakura period, known for artworks with special attention paid to the realism of images.

Description

This Buddhist painting shows Monju, Manjushri in Sanskrit, riding a lion. Monju is a bodhisattva, a being who, though enlightened, chooses not to become a Buddha but instead helps others achieve enlightenment. Monju’s youthfulness symbolizes his pure wisdom, unsullied by the world, and his five hair knots represent his vow to keep calamity at bay. The supernatural nature of his lion is emphasized by its hair, every strand painted in gold, as well as by the lotus platforms beneath each of its feet. The boy’s bejeweled body and silk finery is meant to resemble that of an Indian prince.
Vertically long hanging scroll depicting Monju, a person with light skin tone and hair pulled into five hair knots, seated on a lion with its teeth bared and swirling muted blue swirls for hair. Monju has a blue halo behind his head, wears gold jewelry, and holds a sword in his right hand and the stem of a flower-like item in his left. The lion's muscly legs each stand on a circle surrounded by pink lotus petals. The scene occurs within a muted, brown rectangle, framed by organic patterned dark-purple then light-blue rectangles.

Monju with Five Hair Knots

late 1200s–early 1300s

Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)

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