Gilt Bronze Bowl with Lions and Scrolls

A Splendid Nara-Period Offering Bowl

The Gilt Bronze Bowl with Lions and Scrolls (金銅獅子唐草文鉢) is a Nara-period gilt bronze bowl owned by Gokokushiji in Gifu City, Gifu Prefecture, which in 1955 was designated a National Treasure.

The Agency for Cultural Affairs records one bowl 14.5 centimetres high and 27.6 to 27.0 centimetres across, owned by Gokokushiji, first designated under the old system in 1915.

According to the Agency, it is gilt bronze, in the shape of a monk's iron alms bowl.

Decoration

According to the Agency, the whole surface is incised with lions and scrolls. Bands of pearl roundels, two along the rim and three at the middle, divide it into upper and lower zones. Above, lions with streaming manes leap in four directions among flying clouds, with flowering plants between them on a ring-punched ground.

Below, a seventeen-petalled lotus is engraved at the centre of the base, with scrolls spreading out from it, also on a ring-punched ground.

What to Look For

The Agency describes it as a magnificent and refined bowl, its bold shape adorned with lions and scrolls; plain bowls of this shape are not rare, but comparable Nara decoration is found only on jars at the Shosoin and Todaiji.

The Agency values it as a rare surviving Nara-period vessel for offering rice to the Buddha.

Visiting the Gilt Bronze Bowl with Lions and Scrolls

The bowl is owned by Gokokushiji and is not always on display; check the temple's announcements.