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The Statue of Enma, King of Hell, at Taisô-ji Temple


太宗寺の閻魔
Artist unknown, Japanese
After: Utagawa Kuniteru I (Sadashige) (Japanese, active about 1820–60)
Japanese
Edo period
1847 (Kôka 4)

Medium/Technique Woodblock print (nishiki-e); ink and color on paper
Dimensions Vertical ôban; 35.9 x 24.8 cm (14 1/8 x 9 3/4 in.)
Credit Line William Sturgis Bigelow Collection
Accession Number11.42049
NOT ON VIEW
ClassificationsPrints

Catalogue Raisonné Shibuya Kuritsu Shôtô Bijutsukan, Ukiyoeshitachi no shinbutsu (1999), #96 (version by Kuniteru); other versions: Tomizawa, Nishiki-e no chikara (2005), p. 53; Ono, Kawaraban monogatari (1960), p. 315
DescriptionMFA versions: 11.42049, 11.44680 (different blocks)
Recut (pirated?) editions of a design by Utagawa Kuniteru.

On the 6th day of the 3rd month, Kôka 4 (1847), thieves entered the temple and attempted to pry out one of the crystal eyes of the image on Enma. According to rumor, they were foiled by Enma himself.
Signed Unsigned
無款
ProvenanceBy 1911, purchased by William Sturgis Bigelow (b. 1850–d. 1926), Boston [see note 1]; 1911, gift of Bigelow to the MFA. (Accession Date: January 19, 2005)

NOTES:
[1] Much of Bigelow's collection of Asian art was formed during his residence in Japan between 1882 and 1889, although he also made acquisitions in Europe and the United States. Bigelow deposited many of these objects at the MFA in 1890 before donating them to the Museum's collection at later dates.