---

This exhibition brings together over one hundred “smiles” from the early Mesopotamian dynasty to Japan’s Edo period, covering a period of four millennia. While dealing with the destructiveness of nature and the austerity of the gods, humans have earnestly aspired to and shown adoration to the gods, who brought them to life and blessed them with nature, and also to the buddhas, who showed them compassion. Come see the “archaic smile” that reflects the prayers of these people.

The ancients of West Asia created figurines modeled after themselves as their substitutes, which they offered in their sanctuaries. The tightly bound hands in front of the chest represent the strength of their prayer for which they risked their lives in serving the gods. The Egyptian kings and queens were believed to be manifestations of the gods and thus embodied the cosmic order. The deluge of the Nile, which was controlled by this order, promised abundant harvests. Graceful smiles are seen on the images of the kings and queens and of the gods that represent this nurturing nature.   For the Greeks, wooden and stone statues of their divinities, called agalma (joy, smile), were actually living gods. The nobility created statues in their own image, which they offered to the gods, but today many of these cannot be differentiated from statues of the gods themselves. Mahayana Buddhism flourished during the Kushan dynasty, which prospered from Silk Road trade. Images of Buddhas, which had not been created until then, appeared during this period. In Gandhara, the influences of Hellenistic and Roman art took root and the smiles on matured expressions of transcendent buddhas, compassionate bodhisattvas, and joyful devotees were produced. When Buddhist stupas were first constructed in India, images of divine beings and humans that adorned these structures were expressionless. Although the influence of Gandharan exchange is not certain, the statues of buddhas and gods that appeared later in Mathura in central India clearly have smiles.

---