Earlier this year, a Kamakura period statue of Dainichi Nyorai, attributed to the great sculptor Unkei, rocked the art world when it sold at Christie’s in NY for a record amount: $14.37 million. This was the most ever paid at auction for a Japanese art object, the most ever paid at auction for a Buddhist art object, and the most ever paid at auction in NY for an Asian art object.
The Japanese media went crazy with concerns that the object might be taken out of Japan; that the country might be losing an important part of its heritage, an object which were it to remain in the country might be officially designated by the government an Important Cultural Property (重要文化財, jûyô bunkazai) or even a National Treasure (国宝, kokuhô). The anonymous buyer on whose behalf the Mitsukoshi Corporation bought the object was unknown for some weeks. We did finally learn that the secret buyer was Shinnyo-en (a Japanese cult, or “New Religion” (新宗教, shinshûkyô) as they perhaps prefer to be called). The organization intends to keep the object in Japan, much to the relief of that subsection of the Japanese population that was concerned about this.
*International Herald Tribune article
*Official page for the object at Christie’s.com
*For more information, google “unkei dainichi christie’s” or the like; there’s tons out there.
For those interested, who can understand Japanese, here’s an hour-long NHK documentary on the subject (in five parts), courtesy of YouTube.
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