SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE in the form of Tenjin, Japan, 19th century.
Lacquered wood and mineral pigments on gofun.

A beautiful representation of a seated Tenjin holding a tablet in his right hand. "Tenjin" is actually an abbreviation of Tenman Daijizai Tenjin, a divine title attributed to Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), an illustrious statesman, scholar, and artist who was disgraced and apparently wrongly exiled.
He was initially considered a spiteful and fierce spirit who had to be kept in check, and thus considered a special kami, before being honored and venerated as the deity of poetry, not only in Kyoto, but quickly throughout Japan. It is interesting to note that as such, he is venerated as much in Shinto as in Zen Buddhist shrines.
It was mainly during the end of the Southern and Northern Dynasties (1333-1392), and the beginning of the Muromachi period, that devotion to Tenjin experienced its greatest development in Zen monasteries.

A comparable copy is preserved at the Brooklyn Museum.
AC 86.271.13
Height: 43 cm Width: 36 cm Depth: 25.3
Good condition thanks to its original box.