A gilt-lacquer wood figure of Amitabha, Japan, Muromachi period | 日本 室町时代 木漆金阿彌陀如來立像

Delicately carved with a serene expression and flowing robes adorned in gilt lacquer, the present lot is a remarkable piece of devotional art. The figure, of an imposing height, standing on a finely incised lotus pedestal, enlivened by a vivid mandala aureole behind him. Amida Nyorai (Amitabha), which literally translates to ‘Infinite Light’, is the principal deity of a universalist form of Buddhism in which all are capable of rebirth in his ‘Pure Land’ (Jōdo). The famous Kamakura period Amida made by master sculptor Kaikei (ca. 1185 - 1220) bears a very close resemblance to the present piece, see The Great Age of Japanese Buddhist Sculpture, Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth, 1982, cat. no. 25; also compare a similar lacquer figure with more heavily-worn gilding illustrated in Wladimir Zwalf, Buddhism: Art and Faith, British Museum, London, 1985, cat. no. 358; and an unlacquered wooden figure, also without a lotus pedestal, from the collection of Sam and Myrna Myers, illustrated in Jean-Paul Desroches, Two Americans in Paris: A Quest for Asian Art, Paris, 2016, no. 219.