Datation d'une statue d'Amida-nyorai exposée au musée Guimet

Abstract

In the center of the essay is the dating of a statue of Amida-nyorai, which is exhibited among the collection of Japanese Buddhist sculptures in the Guimet Museum (H. : 1.42 m ; lacquer and goldleaves on wood-core). The first steps to indicate age are as follows : the technical principles, the style and the parameters of fabrication such as destination, attribution and function, are analysed, in order to elaborate the criteria of the dating. As concerns the technical aspects of the statue in the Guimet Museum, the criteria which are valuable for the dating, are the principles of construction of the wood-core and the coating of the statue. The criteria for a stylistic comparison are some details of the head and of the drapery. The analysis of the parameters of fabrication did not give a favourable result. The following step is to compare the elaborated criteria of the statue in the Guimet Museum with those of other examples such as a statue in the Rietberg Museum of Zurich concerning the style. The results of the research are that the statue can be considered as a "work of transition" between the periods of Fujiwara (894-1185) and Kamakura (1185-1392), and its date of construction can be situated at the beginning of Kamakura.