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Subject:Re: Inscription on temple entrance relief
Posted By: Christopher Mon, Mar 13, 2023
Thank you, Bill! This is very interesting and very helpful. I'm happy to hear your suggestion that the piece is likely Japanese. The dealer identified it as Japanese, and the wing-like profile of the top edge looks like a bargeboard pendant from the ceiling of an entrance gate to a Japanese temple (karahafu gegyo or unokedooshi). It’s about 3 feet wide, so the size is about right for a smaller gate. I’ll attach an image of a similar but more elaborate one at the Dazaifu Tenmangū shrine in Dazaifu, Fukuoka Prefecture, also with plum blossoms.
If this identification is right, the inscription probably would have been invisible after it was installed, which makes the meaning even more intriguing. The last character could then very well be the mark of the carver, as you suggest. I know of other cases where artisans left their undecipherable marks on hidden surfaces of temple carvings. In that case, “brilliance” and “devotion” might also be a sort of dedication by the carver. I’ll see what else I can find on the topic of hidden carvers’ marks, but you’ve set me on a very promising path.
Many thanks again.
Christopher
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