Edo period (1615-1868), 18th or 19th century, in four parts, a carved granite stone temple lantern, there is a hexagonal shaped pagoda with open light chamber at top with paneled sides decorated in relief, above is a bell shaped slanted roof six curled points, with a rounded finial at top, all raised up on a cylindrical shaft rising from a hexagonal shaped base with lotus blossom petal decoration.

56 in.

Property of a Gentleman, Collected in Japan

Purchased in Japan.

The stone lantern (ishidoro) was originally intended for a religious shrine. The most magnificent example of lanterns in such a setting is the group of two thousand ishi-doro lining the approaches to the Kasuga Shrine in Nara. Made of granite from Sado Island in the Japan Sea, such lanterns ultimately derive from an Indian temple form, which helps explain the combination of Buddhist and indigenous Japanese Shinto motifs. The octagonal pagoda shape is here made in six sections, with a lotus-form base and finial and a central component with two openings suggesting the sun and the moon. A lamp or a candle is placed in the hollowed-out opening. The secular use of stone lanterns as garden ornaments dates from the Momoyama Period (1568–1600). Aged appearance, such as weathered or mossy stone, is highly admired as sabi, one of the Japanese traditional aesthetic values.

Good estate condition; very nice patina and outdoor growth as expected with wear from being outside.