Tempyo style

Tempyo style

Ashura, dry lacquer (kanshitsu) sculpture in the Tempyo style, Late Nara period …

(credit: Asuka-en, Japan)

Japanese sculptural style of the Nara period (710–784), greatly influenced by the Chinese imperial style of the Tang dynasty (618–907). Many supreme sculptural achievements of Japanese Buddhist art were created during this era, often in unbaked clay, solid wood, and lacquered cloth molded on a removable core (a technique called kanshitsu, or dry lacquer). Tempyo style shows a closer fusion of parts into a unified whole than is found in works of the Early Nara period, giving a sense of activity and realistic observation; the new realism is especially notable in portrait sculpture.