Fragment of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Nigatsudô Burned Sutra)
Tōdaiji Scriptorium, Fragment of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Nigatsudô Burned Sutra), ca. 744, handscroll fragment mounted as a hanging scroll; silver ink on indigo-dyed paper, Museum Purchase: Funds provided by A.A. Burnand III, Robert DiGiorgio, and George J. Kuhrts by exchange, public domain, 2014.176.1
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- Title
Fragment of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Nigatsudô Burned Sutra)
- Related Titles
display title: Fragment of the Avatamsaka Sutra (Nigatsudo Burned Sutra)
original language: 華厳経断簡(二月堂焼経)
- Artist
- Date
ca. 744
- Medium
handscroll fragment mounted as a hanging scroll; silver ink on indigo-dyed paper
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
calligraphy: 9 5/16 in x 21 11/16 in; mounting: 43 1/2 in x 26 15/16 in
- Collection Area
Asian Art
- Category
Calligraphy
- Object Type
handscroll
- Culture
Japanese
- Credit Line
Museum Purchase: Funds provided by A.A. Burnand III, Robert DiGiorgio, and George J. Kuhrts by exchange
- Accession Number
2014.176.1
- Copyright
public domain
- Terms
This fragment was created as part of a set of sixty scrolls of the Avatamsaka Sutra, one of the most influential texts in Mahāyāna Buddhism. Of great appeal to royal patrons, the Avatamsaka inspired a number of vast building projects across Asia. Among these was Tōdaiji Temple, established in Nara in the mid-eighth century as the national headquarters for state Buddhism in Japan. !T! The Avatamsaka Sutra scrolls were created in the 740s to be housed in Tōdaiji’s Nigatsudō, or "Second Month Hall." In 1667, fire broke out from an unattended lamp in the hall. Monks rushed to the hall to rescue precious icons from the flames, but the Avatamsaka Sutra scrolls were only discovered in the ashes after the fire had been put out. Surviving portions of twenty scrolls, now popularly known as the "Nigatsudō Burned Sutras," were all damaged to some degree—which only makes them more cherished as cultural relics.
The Nigatsudō Sutras are the earliest Japanese religious texts to be executed in deluxe materials. The paper was dyed a deep indigo blue, and the text written in silver ink (gindei) made by grinding silver foil to a fine powder and mixing it with a sizing of glue and water. Although silver normally oxidizes to black, in these scrolls it retains its shine. The ragged, burned edges along the lower part of the scroll have turned rust, orange, and gold, eerily evoking the color of the flames.