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Re: Japanese mark, exquisit? shape

Posted By: njg
Posted Date: Mar 07, 2005 (11:33 PM)

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Unusual pieces, you only normally see these depicted on paper. I,ve not seen the like before in the flesh as it were.

I think they are a pair of Buddhist altar statuary. They represent the Buddhist Dhrama wheel, the eightfold path to enlightenment etc.

The flame type background you can see on Chinese art from the Han dynasty onwards. In particular the Northern Wei Dynasty.

Your pair are not so old.

In the pair there is a mandala occuring. The pieces are made from the five precious objects,

You have coral, torquoise, have a close look at the deep blue stones, if you see flecks of gold then, they are probably Lapis Lazuli.

Each colour represents a different concept in the mandala.

From memory

Torquoise = Air
Yellow (metal) = Earth
Red = Fire
White = Water
Blue = Space

The concept then develops further with white representing purity, the cycle of life and death, rebirth etc.

They are basically made from the five elements using five precious objects all bound togeter with the representation of the Earth (yellow) the center of the mandala, then N,S,E and W.

Thats the basics, the complexity of the pair is they represent the 1000 spoked wheel of the Dhrama. Start with birth and finish with rebirth.

Nice pair.

njg

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Re: Re: Japanese mark, exquisit? shape - njg - Mar 07, 2005 (11:52 PM)