The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

Head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

300s–400s CE
stucco with traces of paint
Overall: 45.7 x 35.5 cm (18 x 14 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1985.31
Location: 242A Ancient India

Description

By this period, individual bodhisattvas were beginning to be revered as ideal figures who would deliberately postpone their own enlightenment and entrance into final nirvana, which is a state from which no one returns to be reborn into this world. Bodhisattvas accomplish all but the final meditation leading to full enlightenment, but they are considered to be so advanced in their practice and realization that they have the ability to control their rebirth and act in righteous and compassionate ways to help others achieve enlightenment. Because the remains of a lotus pedestal on which a Buddha sat is at the center of the diadem, this head can be identified as that of the Bodhisattva of Compassion. The idealized linearity of the brows and eyes along with the formalized waves of hair give an ethereal quality to the otherwise naturalistic face.
  • ?–1985
    (David Tremayne, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1985–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Neils, Jenifer. “The Twain Shall Meet.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 72, no. 6, 1985, pp. 326–359. Reproduced: p. 340, fig. 26 www.jstor.org
    Czuma, Stanislaw J., and Rekha Morris. Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1985. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 125, p. 221
  • The Year in Review for 1985. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 12-April 20, 1986).
    Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 13, 1985-January 5, 1986).
    The Twain Shall Meet. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 30, 1985-January 5, 1986).
  • {{cite web|title=Head of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara|url=false|author=|year=300s–400s CE|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1985.31