A figure of seated Maitreya

Details

• Title : A figure of seated Maitreya
• Year : 10thC
• Classification : Figure/ Sculpture
• Medium : Made of cast bronze and gilded.
• Dimension : Height: 26.6 centimetres Width: 13.5 centimetres Depth: 15.5 centimetres
• Accession No : 1967,0713.1 Object reference number: RRI10526
• Country/ Geo-location : Nepal
• Culture : Buddhism
• Collection : The British Museum
• Credit Line : Funded by: Brooke Sewell Permanent Fund Purchased from: Spink & Son Ltd
• Acquisition Method : Purchased: Acquisition date 1967
• Status : Not on display
• School/style : Gupta Style
• Curator's comments: Blurton, 1997: : The identification os this bronze is controversial. We know that as Buddhist teaching developed, the idea that figures in the evolving pantheon could be differentiated by their sitting positions or their hand gestures gained ground. On the other hand, the most usual feature in the identification of Maitreya is a small stupa located in the headdress, which here is not apparent. The Buddha usually wears a monastic robe, as here, a feature which often clearly reveals the body beneath it. This is a stylistic feature which, in India, reached back at least to the Gupta period. The Kathmandu valley is renowned, nol only for its high quality of metal-workmanship, but also for the extent to which Indian styles continued long after they had fallen out of fashion in the lowlands. The Gupta inheritance of this image, although many centuries later, is still apparent.Zwalf 1985The early concept of successive ages each ruled by a different Buddha recognised a future Buddha called Maitreya. Originally represented as an ornamented figure with a pot, he can later be indistinguishable from a Buddha making the preaching gesture and seated in the so-called European posture as on a chair. The identification of the seated and preaching Maitreya in Buddha form is clear when he has a ‘stūpa’ in his head-dress or on a flanking lotus. This image shows how the Gupta style persisted in Nepal.
• Bibliography : Zwalf 1985 161 Blurton 1997 262 von Schroeder 1981 76A Koezuka (1994) 80 Pal 1974 pl. 185 Snellgrove 1978 pl. 270
• Exhibition history : Exhibited:Buddhism: Art and Faith (BM 1985) 1994, Kyoto National Museum, Masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu Sculpture from the British Museum 1994, Tokyo, Tobu Museum of Art, Masterpieces of Buddhist and Hindu Sculpture from the British Museum 1997 13 Oct-1998 5 Jan, India, New Delhi, National Museum, The Enduring Image 1998 9 Feb-3 May, India, Mumbai, Sir Caswasjee Jahangir Hall, The Enduring Image