|
This month’s showcased object is another of Charles Longfellow’s acquistions from the Far East, a Buddhist temple statuette.
Purchased some time during his extended twenty months-long trip to Japan from 1871 to 1873, Longfellow may have gotten the statuette from one of the many temples he visited. Longfellow lamented in a letter to his sister Annie that Japan was losing much of what he regarded as its true character, a result of the push under Emperor Meiji to modernize the country, writing “And I only wish I were very rich, if only for the pleasure of buying these splendid things from temples and yashikis which in a few years will have disappeared from Japan.”
The statue measures just under two feet high, and is constructed primarily of wood with gold paint, gold leaf, inlaid crystal eyes, and metal and glass components. It depicts the Kannon Bosatsu, a Japanese Buddhist figure often referred to in English as a goddess of compassion and mercy. The piece incorporates many common themes in Buddhist art, including the lotus flower, representing enlightenment and purity, and the mandorla, the gilt, fan-shaped flame element framing the seated Kannon.
Charles Longfellow kept the piece for the rest of his life. It appears in his estate inventory listed as “Old idol on gilt stand”, and was given by him to his sister Alice after his death. Alice kept the statue in her brother’s old “Japanese Room”, as it came to be referred to after her brother’s passing, and it appeared on a list of the room's furnishings as late as 1912. In 2014, National Park Service object conservators treated the item by cleaning and reattaching broken pieces and strengthening other joints. The statue will appear on temporary exhibit again at the house for the 2019 open season.
|
