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Aug 12, 2011

Aug 15, 2011

Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

537

China, Hebei province, Eastern Wei dynasty

(534-550)

Limestone

Overall: 77.5 x 44.4 cm (30 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust 1914.567

Location

241C Chinese Buddhist Sculptures

Did you know?

Traces of polychrome paints remaining in the interstices of the carving, particularly on the foliate carving around Shakyamuni, suggest the stele was originally brightly colored.

Description

According to the inscription, this stele was commissioned in 537 by Yuan'ning, prince of the Gaoping branch of the imperial Wei family, in memory of his deceased consort, in the hope that it would bring her to the Western paradise. It was carved by one of the finest craftsmen in the Eastern Wei capital of Ye in Hebei province.

Here, the Buddha's robe shows a careful arrangement of patterned drapery (large U-shaped folds and scallop-shaped folds at the hem), combining linear rhythms with an ordered symmetry. Soaring flames edge the mandorla (almond-shaped halo), echoing the linear eloquence of Chinese painting.

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Inscriptions

Inscription

Fully inscribed on reverse

Provenance

?–1914

(Edgar Worch [1880–1972], New York, NY and Berlin, Germany, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1914-

The Cleveland Museum of Art

Citations

"Recent Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1, no. 2 (1914): 1-3. Reproduced: p. 4; mentioned: p. 5 www.jstor.org

MacLean, J. Arthur. "A Buddhist Trinity." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1, no. 3 (1914): 2-3. Reproduced: p. 3; mentioned: pp. 2, 4, www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925. Reproduced: p. 49 archive.org

Sizer, Theodore. "Chinese Sculpture." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 13, no. 9, 1926, pp. 196-203 Reproduced: p. 203 www.jstor.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928. Reproduced: p. 62 archive.org

Sirén, Osvald. A History of Early Chinese Art. London: E. Benn, Limited, 1929. Reproduced: II, pl. 200, A.B.

The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 815 archive.org

Saburō, Matsubara 松原三郎. "Eastern Wei Sculpture-its characteristics and its connection with Japanese Tori Style sculpture of the Asuka Period [東魏雕刻論]" Bijutsu Kenkyū [ 美術硏究 = The journal of art studies], no. 202 (Jan. 1959), pp. 17-33. Reproduced: pl. 5

Matsubara, Saburō. Chūgoku Bukkyō chōkoku shi kenkyū [= Chinese Buddhist sculpture: a study based on bronze and stone statues other than works from cave temples]. Tokyo: Yoshikawa Kobunkan,1961. Reproduced: p. 111, 112, fig. 86A and B

Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964. Mentioned: p. 143; Reproduced: fig. 166, p. 142

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 250 archive.org

Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: pl. 53

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 250 archive.org

The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 330 archive.org

Berthier, François. Genesis of Japanese Buddhist sculpture . [Paris]: Publications orientalistes de France, 1979. Reproduced: pl. 95

Linduff, Katheryn M. Tradition, Phase, and Style of Shang and Chou Bronze Vessels. New York: Garland Pub, 1979. Reproduced: plate 5, p. 254

Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan National Palace Museum. Hai wai yi zhen. fo xiang [外創珎. 佛像= Chinese art in overseas collections. Buddhist sculpture]. Taibei Shi: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1990. Reproduced: p. 37

Lee, Sherman E., and Naomi Noble Richard. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Reproduced: p. 160, fig. 203

Wilson, J. Keith, and Anne E. Wardwell. "New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art vol. 81, no. 8 (1994): 270-347. Reproduced: p. 318; Mentioned: p. 317-18, 320 www.jstor.org

Watson, William. The Arts of China to AD 900. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. Reproduced: fig. 236, p. 144

Ghose, Rajeshwari, Puay-peng Ho, and Chuntang Yang. Fa xiang chuan zhen: gu dai fo jiao yi shu [法相傳真 : 古代佛教兿術; In the footsteps of the Buddha: an iconic journey from India to China]. Hong Kong: Xianggang da xue mei shu bo wu guan, 1998. Reproduced: cat. no. 93, p. 301

May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: no. 78, p. 74; Mentioned: p. 119

Sun, Di, editor. Zhongguo liu shi hai wai Fo jiao zao xiang zong he tu mu [中国流失海外佛教造像总合图目 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections]. Beijing: Wai wen chu ban she, 2005. vol. 2, pp. 404-405

Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Reproduced: pp. 56-57

Chung, Anita. "Re-Emergence: New Chinese Galleries and Art Acquisitions of The Cleveland Museum of Art." Orientations 44, no. 8 (November/December 2013): 64-75. Reproduced: p. 64, fig 1

Lin, Nancy. "5000 Years of Korean Art: Exhibitions abroad as cultural diplomacy." Journal of the History of Collections Vol. 28, no. 3 (2016): 383-400. Reproduced: P. 396, fig. 9

Giuffrida, Noelle. Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 78, fig. 39

Exhibition history

In the Footsteps of Buddha: An Iconic Journey from India To China. University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (September-December 1998). cat. no. 93

Traditions and Revisions: Themes from the History of Sculpture. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 24-November 16, 1975).

Images of Enlightenment: Gems from Buddhist Art of Asia. Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (September 26-December 15, 1998).

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{{cite web|title=Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1914.567|year=537|access-date=08 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas

China, Hebei province, Eastern Wei dynasty

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