Few bronze images of the Buddha dating to this early period in the history of Indian art survive, since bronze lends itself to being melted down for other uses. This example is also exceptional because it carries an extensive inscription on its base that dates it to the year 591. According to the inscription the sculpture was dedicated by a nun who was from a village in Nepal, but it may have been made in a workshop in India. Movable bronze images were made for personal meditation or devotional purposes.
The monk’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.
Details
- Title : Standing Buddha
- Classification : Sculpture
- Medium : Bronze
- Dimension : 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.)
- Country/ Geo-location : Nepal or Northeastern India
- Period : Licchavi /Gupta period
- Collection : The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Credit Line : Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1968.40
- Status : On View 243 Indian and Southeast Asian
- Collection : Indian Art
- Department : Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Inscriptions : Dated inscription (corresponding to 632) engraved on front of base and extending to its right side: translation "This (image) is the pious gift of the Buddhist nun named Parisuddhamati in the village Ladita. Whatever merit accrues from this (gift) may it lead to the supreme enlightenment of all living beings. (This gift was made) in the year 313 (300.10.3). (It is the wish) that (a certain ascetic) Purnnaka belonging to the monastery in the locality of Chaityakuta should be fed."
- Exhibition history : The Cleveland Museum of Art (06/28/2009 - 08/30/2009); "Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art" *Year in Review: 1968. The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 29-March 9, 1969). *Honoring Sherman Lee. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 28-August 30, 2009).