Title: A Pair of Kyōgire (Sutra Fragments), Circa 800-1185. Two Sutra Fragments of the Heian Period, One Indigo Dyed Fragment from the Hokke-kyo (Lotus ) Sutra, and another Tipitaka Text on Gold Dyed Paper
Condition: Very Good
Two Heian Period, 8th to 12th century sutra fragments, being sections from two different texts.
One fragment is from the Hokke-kyo (Lotus) Sutra, being written on indigo dyed paper, and inscribed in golden ink.
The other fragment is written on gold dyed paper and appears to be another Tipitaka text.
Although this painting was sold privately along with others at the behest of a private family estate, it was disclosed that the owner of the collection was a historical researcher once serving as the director of libraries and museums in Hyogo Prefecture. With that in mind, it is highly possible that this individual was Yusuke Nakahara, the famed Japanese art critic, curator, scholar, lecturer, university president, art festival organizer, and cultural administrator. As he did have a substantial library, it is no surprised that his collection could have also contained several hundred paintings.
The sutras have been neatly mounted onto a brocade decorated kakejiku (hanging scroll), with jikusaki (knobs) made of lacquered wood. There is a wooden box to accompany the scroll, preserving the contents.
Two sutra manuscripts mounted on a kakejiku (hanging scroll), 157 x 33cm full size, 30 x 7.5 and 25 x 5.7 cm main sutras
These sutra fragments are in very good shape, with minor wear and ink loss to a few letters in the indigo and gold sutra example. The gold dyed sutra fragment is more worm eaten, but only two letters are impacted.