• Joseon Dynasty, 16th century
• Color on hemp
• Nezu Museum

The painting shows Kshitigarbha surrounded by six bodhisattvas and a congregation. This composition first appeared in the Illustration of the Sutra of the Ten Kings, printed in 1236 at Haeinsa Temple. The pictorial composition and the style of rendering figures indicate that this painting is a work of the sixteenth century, pointing to the simultaneous circulation of divergent modes of depicting Kshitigarbha. Despite the humbleness of the hemp substrate, the large scale of the painting and the masterful brushwork rendering human figures suggest that a professionally trained academic painter undertook the project commissioned by a wealthy patron.

Exhibition period July 22. - August 31.