AN IMPORTANT GOLD AND INDIGO-DYED MAKIMONO (HAND SCROLL) DEPICTING CHAPTER 12 OF THE HOKKE-KYO (LOTUS SUTRA), COMMISSIONED IN MEMORY OF THE SHOGUN TOKUGAWA IEYASU, C. 1636

Japan, c. 1636, early Edo period (1615-1868)

The illuminated frontispiece executed in ink and gold, the sacred text written in gold on finely prepared indigo-dyed paper, arranged in vertical columns separated by triple gold rules. The scroll is mounted as a handscroll on richly woven brocade silk, with ichimatsu (checkered) borders and a moegi-green silk cover bearing the woven title.

The mountings are of exceptional quality and significance: a woven silk cord terminating in a half-moon lotus clasp (renge), gilt-metal openwork fittings with foliate scrollwork, and finely worked gilt jikusaki (roller ends) enclosing rock crystal - a material historically associated with purity and elite, often courtly or religious, commissions. The mounts are further distinguished by the presence of the Mitsuba Aoi mon, the heraldic emblem of the Tokugawa clan, firmly situating the scroll within the highest echelon of shogunal patronage.

The painting illustrates Chapter 12 (Devadatta) of the Lotus Sutra. The frontispiece depicts the celebrated scene of the Dragon King’s daughter emerging from her ocean palace to present a precious jewel to the Buddha, symbolizing immediate enlightenment.

The composition is rendered with exceptional refinement, extending even to the reverse, where auspicious clouds and other imperial symbols are masterfully depicted. The front margins are lavishly adorned with gold, silver, and polychrome stenciling, while the background is animated by intricate geometric and textile-inspired patterns reminiscent of Korean sutra decoration. The precision of the linework and the sophistication of the ornamentation strongly indicate the hand of a master painter trained in the Tosa school tradition, long associated with the Imperial Painting Bureau.

SIZE (total) 27.5 x 283 cm
Image SIZE 27.6 x 29.3 cm, LENGTH of closed scroll incl. mounts 30.7 cm

Provenance: Commissioned by a member of the Tokugawa Shogunate and presented to the Toshogu Shrine in Nikko, commemorating the death anniversary of Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542-1616). Old Italian private collection. A private collection in Italy, acquired from the above.
Condition: The painted image is preserved in an exceptionally fine, near-pristine condition, with only minimal signs of age. The gold remains remarkably vibrant and well preserved. Minor, expected wear and few creases as are to be expected. Please refer to additional images provided for a detailed view of the condition.

This scroll can be securely placed within a small, identifiable, and highly important dispersed set of Tokugawa-period commemorative Lotus Sutra handscrolls, produced as part of memorial observances for Tokugawa Ieyasu.

The official wives (seishitsu) of the Tokugawa shoguns were frequently drawn from the Japanese Imperial Household or from aristocratic families with direct imperial connections, forming politically significant alliances that reinforced the legitimacy and continuity of Tokugawa rule. Within this framework, it became established practice for the consort of the ruling shogun to commission and dedicate lavish Lotus Sutra sets to the great mausoleum-temples at Nikko, including Rinno-ji, in commemoration of the death of Tokugawa Ieyasu (1542–1616).

Such commissions formed part of formalized Buddhist memorial observances and were executed by court-affiliated workshops - often involving painters trained in the Tosa school tradition. The present scroll - with its exceptional use of gold, refined decorative program, and richly worked mounts - fits squarely within this context of elite, ritualized production, functioning both as a devotional object and as an expression of dynastic authority.

A closely related example - Chapter 8 of the Lotus Sutra, dated to circa 1636 - is preserved in the British Library (see Museum comparison). Scholarly research has established that several such scrolls, now dispersed across institutional and private collections, originated from the same original commission; notably, the British Library scroll shares the same distinctive mounting features as the present lot.

The extraordinary richness of materials and execution - producing an overall effect comparable to that of a precious jewel - confirms that such a work could only have been commissioned within the highest circles of patronage for presentation to a major sacred site of national importance.

For a detailed discussion of a closely related scroll from this group, see Yu Ying Brown, “Lost and Found: The Revelation of the Lotus Sutra,” The British Library OIOC Newsletter, no. 52 (1995), where it is noted that at least eight other examples from the same set have been identified in public and private collections.

Chapter 12 of the Lotus Sutra articulates one of its most radical teachings: the universal potential for Buddhahood. It affirms that even Devadatta - traditionally regarded as an adversary of the Buddha - will ultimately attain enlightenment, and that the Dragon King’s daughter achieves Buddhahood instantly, challenging earlier doctrinal limitations concerning women and spiritual attainment.

Museum comparison:
Compare a closely related copy of the Lotus Sutra, chapter 8, dated c. 1636, very likely from the same set of scrolls as the present lot, in the British Library, number Oriental MS 13926. Compare closely related later copies of the Lotus Sutra, chapter 12 and 14, dated c. 1667, size 28 × 454.5 cm (each), in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, object number 2015.300.5a, b.

Auction comparison:
Compare a closely related Lotus Sutra handscroll, depicting chapter 23, 420 x 27.6 cm, at Vickers & Hoad Auctioneers, Directors Selection, Session 1, 11 November 2013, Sydney, lot 1 (sold for AUD 74,000, or approx. EUR 63,500 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing). Note the similar style of painting as well as the identical gilt Tokugawa mounts.

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