Repousse Relief of the Tathāgata Triad
Copper plaque
7th century
D1.5 x W15.7 x H27.5 cm
7th century
D1.5 x W15.7 x H27.5 cm
Further images
Repousse relief of Buddha (oshidashibutsu) is made by placing a bronze sheet on a convex mold and then striking with a hammer and so on to transfer the mold’s shape to the plate. It resembles the clay-tile Buddha (senbutsu), which is made by filling a concave mold with clay and then firing the mold-shaped clay in a kiln. Both share iconographical similarities and both were produced during the Asuka, Hakuho and Tenpyo eras.
Both were also decorated with gold and color and hung on the walls of temple buildings. The Shosoin Monjo documents also contain a record from Tenpyo-hoji 6 (762) recounting how ‘50 oshidashibutsu’ and ‘90 oshidashibutsu’ adorned the walls of Todai-ji Temple’s east pagoda.
An examination of this Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad reveals the following characteristics: (a) The principal image is a figure neither in a standing nor seated form, but rather leaning against the pedestal; (b) The attendant on the viewer’s left has the appearance of Tathagata; (c) The tenne cloth of the attendant on the viewer’s right spreads out in a fan shape in a manner reminiscent of the tenne worn by the attendants in Horyu-ji Temple’s Sakyamuni Triad; (d) The lotus pedestals of the three deities are connected by a trifurcated stem.
These same four characteristics are shared by two other oshidashibutsu triads and one cast triad that was used as an oshidashibutsu mold. All three triads are designated Important Cultural Properties.
1. Bronze Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad, Taima-dera Okuno-in Temple, 8th cent.
2. Bronze Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad, Chion-in Temple, 7th cent.
3. Bronze Cast Tathagata Triad, Horyu-ji Temple, End of 7th cent.–start of 8th cent.
Their production dates are taken from Nara National Museum 1983 exhibition catalog. It is presumed that (1) and (2) were produced using the same mold as this Tathagata Triad, with (3) apparently serving as the mold for oshidashibutsu to (1) and (2). We can tentatively call these ‘Taima-dera type’ objects.
We also know of early-Tang-period senbutsu that share characteristics (a) and (d), with the similar senbutsu also excavated from the Tachibana-dera and Tsubosaka-dera Temple sites. The senbutsu from the Tsubosaka-dera site are slightly smaller, apparently because they were made using senbutsu like those from the Tachibana-dera site as molds. Tachibana-dera was constructed during the reign of Emperor Tenji (668–672) at the latest, while Tsubosaka-dera was built in Taiho 3 (703), so it seems the same type of senbutsu was produced for around thirty years. It must have become a standardized senbutsu format. However, the trifurcated stems are barely visible and have almost worn away on these senbutsu. Stylistically, the Taima-dera type format with its pronounced trifurcated stem is thought to predate the Tachibana-dera format.
The production date of Taima-dera type triads is estimated to be between ‘the end of the 7th century and the start of the 8th century,’ around the same time as the Tsubosaka-dera senbutsu were made, and although they differ in the sense of one being oshidashibutsu and the other senbutsu these old and new styles coexisted. Since the Taima-dera type style is thought to be older, it was probably also used for a long time as a standardized format. Characteristic (c) suggests the roots of this style date back to the first half of the 7th century, close to the Asuka era.
Both were also decorated with gold and color and hung on the walls of temple buildings. The Shosoin Monjo documents also contain a record from Tenpyo-hoji 6 (762) recounting how ‘50 oshidashibutsu’ and ‘90 oshidashibutsu’ adorned the walls of Todai-ji Temple’s east pagoda.
An examination of this Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad reveals the following characteristics: (a) The principal image is a figure neither in a standing nor seated form, but rather leaning against the pedestal; (b) The attendant on the viewer’s left has the appearance of Tathagata; (c) The tenne cloth of the attendant on the viewer’s right spreads out in a fan shape in a manner reminiscent of the tenne worn by the attendants in Horyu-ji Temple’s Sakyamuni Triad; (d) The lotus pedestals of the three deities are connected by a trifurcated stem.
These same four characteristics are shared by two other oshidashibutsu triads and one cast triad that was used as an oshidashibutsu mold. All three triads are designated Important Cultural Properties.
1. Bronze Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad, Taima-dera Okuno-in Temple, 8th cent.
2. Bronze Repousse Relief of the Tathagata Triad, Chion-in Temple, 7th cent.
3. Bronze Cast Tathagata Triad, Horyu-ji Temple, End of 7th cent.–start of 8th cent.
Their production dates are taken from Nara National Museum 1983 exhibition catalog. It is presumed that (1) and (2) were produced using the same mold as this Tathagata Triad, with (3) apparently serving as the mold for oshidashibutsu to (1) and (2). We can tentatively call these ‘Taima-dera type’ objects.
We also know of early-Tang-period senbutsu that share characteristics (a) and (d), with the similar senbutsu also excavated from the Tachibana-dera and Tsubosaka-dera Temple sites. The senbutsu from the Tsubosaka-dera site are slightly smaller, apparently because they were made using senbutsu like those from the Tachibana-dera site as molds. Tachibana-dera was constructed during the reign of Emperor Tenji (668–672) at the latest, while Tsubosaka-dera was built in Taiho 3 (703), so it seems the same type of senbutsu was produced for around thirty years. It must have become a standardized senbutsu format. However, the trifurcated stems are barely visible and have almost worn away on these senbutsu. Stylistically, the Taima-dera type format with its pronounced trifurcated stem is thought to predate the Tachibana-dera format.
The production date of Taima-dera type triads is estimated to be between ‘the end of the 7th century and the start of the 8th century,’ around the same time as the Tsubosaka-dera senbutsu were made, and although they differ in the sense of one being oshidashibutsu and the other senbutsu these old and new styles coexisted. Since the Taima-dera type style is thought to be older, it was probably also used for a long time as a standardized format. Characteristic (c) suggests the roots of this style date back to the first half of the 7th century, close to the Asuka era.