A large wood figure of Tamonten (Kubera)Heian period (794-1185), 12th centuryThe head and torso carved from a single block of wood, the figure shown in a contrapposto stance dressed in Chinese-style armor and holding a pagoda and spear, with traces of gesso, standing on a subdued demon 38in (96.5cm) high, figure only, 40 1/8in (102cm) high overall注脚ProvenancePurchased from Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art, Kyoto, 2010Tamonten, literally "The heavenly king who hears much," is the most potent of the Shitenno (Four Heavenly Kings) and the only one to be included, in more recent centuries, in the popular grouping of Shichifukujin (The Seven Gods of Good Fortune). He is nearly always identifiable by a pagoda in his left hand from which he bestows teachings and treasures upon the worthy, and a spear in his right hand which guards against distraction and deviation from the Buddhist law. For a related eleventh-century example, made like the present lot from a single block of wood in the ichibokuzukuri technique and with similarly dramatic yet uncomplicated carving and modeling, compare an example in Nara National Museum, https://www.narahaku.go.jp/collection/1138-0.html, inv. no Cho (Sculpture) 104; also published in Nara National Museum, Nara Kokuritsu Hakubutsukan zohin zuhan mokoroku (Illustrated Catalogues of Nara National Museum), 1999, p.108.