Looking at Art

Guardian king of the west (Gwangmok cheonwang), 2002-2003, by Jae-u (Korean, born 1966). Ink and mineral colors on cotton. Gift of Jae-u, 2004.10.

Virudhaka (Japanese: Zochoten), Buddhist Guardian King of the South and Dhritarashtra (Japanese: Jikokuten), Buddhist Guardian King of the East. Heian Period (794-1185), approx. 950-1000. Japan. Wood and pigments. The Avery Brundage Collection, B6S318+.

The stone pagoda structure is called the Great Wild Goose Pagoda enclosed within the Ci’en (Temple of Mercy) monastery in present-day Xi’an. It was erected in 652 to commemorate the return of the temple’s abbott, the celebrated monk Xuanzang. This heroic figure to Chinese Buddhist history traveled west across the Silk Road and throughout India for sixteen years, exploring the homeland of Buddhism before returning with hundreds of sutras (Buddhist texts).

Gourd-shaped incense container, 1625–1675. Attributed to Nonomura Ninsei (active 1625–1675). Japan; Kyoto. Kyoto ware, stoneware with underglaze iron-oxide decoration. Museum Purchase, B74P5.

This Goddess image appears in a niche on one side of the main structure of the great Shiva Nataraja (Dancing Shiva) a temple in Chidambaram, in the southern state of Tamil Nadu. Learn more.

Ghatotkacha (Gatotkaca), son of Bhima (Bima), approx. 1970, by M. Ahim. Indonesia; Ciampea, West Java. Wood, cloth, and mixed media. From the Mimi and John Herbert Collection, F2000.86.78.

Melinda Takeuchi, Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Art History at Stanford University, discusses the coded meanings behind a woodblock print in the Asian Art Museum’s collection.

Background information on the Hindu deity, Ganesha, and Hindu architecture.

Futon cover with turtles and family crest, Meiji period (1868-1912). Japan. Indigo-dyed cotton with stencil-applied and hand drawn paste-resist (tsutsugaki) decoration. Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Newsom, B74M3.