Illustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji Sutra

Illustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji Sutra

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

This scroll bears a large rectangular Jingo-ji seal in red ink below the title, indicating that it once belonged to the set of more than five thousand sutra scrolls known as the Jingo-ji sutras. The retired emperor Toba (1103–1156) commissioned the transcription of these sutras about 1149. His son Goshirakawa (1127–1192) continued the project and dedicated it to Jingo-ji temple in Kyoto in 1185.

Asian Art

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Illustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji SutraIllustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji SutraIllustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji SutraIllustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji SutraIllustrated Frontispiece to the Sutra of Enlightenment through the Accumulation of Merit and Virtue, the So-called Jingoji Sutra

The Met's collection of Asian art—more than 35,000 objects, ranging in date from the third millennium B.C. to the twenty-first century—is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the world. Each of the many civilizations of Asia is represented by outstanding works, providing an unrivaled experience of the artistic traditions of nearly half the world.