Standing Buddha

591

Maker Unknown

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Standing Buddha, 591. Northern India, Uttar Pradesh. Bronze; overall: 46.5 x 15.4 x 13.4 cm (18 5/16 x 6 1/16 x 5 1/4 in.); without base: 35 x 13.8 x 10.5 cm (13 3/4 x 5 7/16 x 4 1/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1968.40 This bronze Buddha is exceptional, because it carries an inscription on its base that dates its manufacture to the year 591. According to the inscription, the sculpture was dedicated by a nun who was from a village in Nepal, but she probably commissioned it at a workshop in northern India.

The Buddha's robe on this image has been left plain, without pleat lines to obscure the beauty of the contours of the body. Only the rippling scalloped clusters of the garment’s hem lend some sense of energy and subtle ornament to the composition. Around the time when this sculpture was made, portable bronzes began to replace relics as the principal sacred commodity circulating in the Buddhist world.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Sculpture
Formatted Medium: bronze
Medium: bronze
Dimensions: Overall: 46.5 x 15.4 x 13.4 cm (18 5/16 x 6 1/16 x 5 1/4 in.); without base: 35 x 13.8 x 10.5 cm (13 3/4 x 5 7/16 x 4 1/8 in.)
Inscribed: Inscription: 1. ṹ deyadharmmoyaṃ laḍitagrāme yaṃgvalvihāre śā[kya] bhikṣuṇyā 2. pariśuddhamatyā yadattra puṇyaṃ tadbhavatu sarvvasatvānā- 3. manuttarasarvva jñānāvāptaye/ / saṃvat 4a. 500 10 3/ / caityakūta jinabandhuvihārapūrvva-bhuddeśe 4b. piṇḍakena bhojanaṃ karttavya*/ / *Mistake for karttavyam Translation: This [image] is the pious gift of the Shakya nun Parishuddamati who lives in the Yamgval convent in Laditagrama. Whatever merit there may be in this [deed], may it lead to the attainment of supreme enlightenment of all sentient beings. Samvat 513 (AD 591). A feast should be provided [from the proceeds of] pindaka at the locale east of the Chaityakuta Jinabandhu monastery. Remark: Gautama Vajracharya (at LACMA 1975) once offered an alternate interpretation of the last line: "(It is the wish) that (a certain ascetic) Purnnaka, belonging to the monastery in the locality of Chaityakuta, should be fed."
Departments: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Accession Number: 1968.40
Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Exhibitions: Year in Review: 1968, The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence, Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Rights Statement: CC0
Museum Location: 243 Indian and Southeast Asian