A PAIR OF WOOD TEMPLE GUARDIAN FIGURESEdo period (1615-1868), probably 19th centuryEach of carved and assembled wood, depicting two Nio (Buddhist guardian deities), decorated in gesso and pigment, their robes gathered at the waist revealing the exaggerated musculature of their upper bodies, bearing fierce expressions with their mouths open or closed to form the Buddhist incantationsA andUn, one holding atama (jewel), the eyes inlaid; each with a metal stand.Each approx., 214cm (84¼in) high with stand. (4).Provenance: Provenance:A gift to the current owners in the 1980s from private collectors of Japanese and Southeast Asian Buddhist art.A stylistically similar pair of temple guardian figures, dating circa 1300-1400, is housed at the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, object nos.AK-RAK-2007-1-A, B.In times gone by, these two fearsome evil-averting guardians—once brightly coloured— warded off evil influences at the entrance to a Buddhist temple. They are named Agyo and Ungyo, from their open and closed mouths, representinga andun, the first and last syllables of the Siddham script (used to write Sanskrit). The two syllables stand for all spoken language and thus all knowledge, which is symbolically absorbed by worpers as they enter the temple through its Nio-mon (Guardian Gate).