Sugawara No Michizane as Tenjin, Japan 19th century

SUGAWARA NO MICHIZANE as Tenjin, Japan, 19th century.
Lacquered wood and mineral pigments on gofun. H. 53 cm
Very beautiful representation of Tenjin seated, holding a tablet in his right hand. "Tenjin" is in fact the abbreviation of Tenman Daijizai Tenjin, divine title attributed to Sugawara no Michizane (845-903), illustrious statesman, scholar and artist disgraced and wrongly exiled.
He was first seen as a resentful and fierce spirit to be spared, and therefore considered a special kami, before being honored and revered as the deity of poetry, not only in Kyoto, but quickly throughout. Japan.
It is interesting to note that in this capacity he is revered as much in Shinto shrines as in Zen Buddhist temples.
It would be mainly during the late Southern and Northern Dynasty era (1333-1392), and the early Muromachi era, that devotion to Tenjin saw its greatest development in Zen monasteries.
A comparable example is kept at the Brooklyn Museum. AC 86.271.13
Height: 43cm Width: 36cm Depth: 25.3
Remarkable condition thanks to its original box.