In Japanese Buddhism, the biwa (a pear-shaped lute) is associated with the goddess Benten (Benzaiten). She presides over all things that flow, from water and snakes to language and music. She is thus the patron of dancers, musicians, and geishas. Shrines dedicated to Benten are usually located near water. Paintings often show her seated on a rock by the sea, as in this eighteenth-century silk panel.
Benten on a rock by the sea
- Provenance
- To 1903
- Bunkio Matsuki (1867-1940), Boston, to 1903 [1]
- From 1903 to 1919
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Bunkio Matsuki in Japan in 1903 [2]
- From 1920
- Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
- Notes:
- [1] Undated folder sheet note. See Original Kakemono and Makimono List, S.I. 52, pg. 81, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives. For information regarding purchase location, see Accession List.
- [2] See note 1.
- [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
- Collection
- Freer Gallery of Art Collection
- Exhibition History
- Religious Art of Japan (December 18, 2002 to January 4, 2015)
- Previous custodian or owner
- Bunkio Matsuki 松木文恭 (1867-1940) (C.L. Freer source)
- Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
- Data Source
- Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
- Date
- 18th century?
- Period
- Edo period
- Credit Line
- Gift of Charles Lang Freer
- Medium
- Color and gold on silk panel
- Dimensions
- H x W (image): 85.2 x 32.4 cm (33 9/16 x 12 3/4 in)
- Type
- Painting
