The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of January 19, 2020

Zaō Gongen

1100–1185

Japan, Heian Period

(794-1185)

Gilt bronze with repoussé and incised details

Overall: 25.8 x 17.8 cm (10 3/16 x 7 in.)

The Severance and Greta Millikin Purchase Fund 1986.47

Location

not on view

Fun Fact

This votive mirror would have been hung in a temple or shrine.

Description

Zaō Gongen is the deity of Mount Kinpu, in the Yoshino Mountains south of Nara. This fragment is from a votive mirror called a kakebotoke with metal fittings at the top through which a cord could be used to hang it.

Provenance
?-1986
(Shunichi Yabumoto Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, ?-1986, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1986-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1986-present
Citations
Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1986.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 74, no. 2, 1987, pp. 38–79. Reproduced: fig. 237, p. 50; Mentioned: p. 79 www.jstor.org
“Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 1987.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 41, 1988, pp. 95–110. Reproduced: fig. 10, p. 98 www.jstor.org
Vilbar, Sinéad, and Kevin Gray Carr. Shinto: Discovery of the Divine in Japanese Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2019. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 186-187, no. 75
Exhibition history

Year in Review for 1986. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 4-March 15, 1987).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - July 2017-January 2018. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (July 15, 2017-January 2, 2018).

Shinto: Discovering the Divine in Japanese Art 神道－日本美術における神性の発見. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 9-June 30, 2019).

Source URL: https://cmaweb23-bbn-2.clevelandart.org/art/1986.47