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Additional Views

Aug 7, 2012

Jan 25, 2016

Jan 26, 2016

Jan 28, 2016

Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva

c. 1150–1200

Central Tibet

Gum tempera, ink, and gold on cloth

Overall: 111 x 73 cm (43 11/16 x 28 3/4 in.)

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund 1989.104

Location

not on view

Did you know?

A mantra written behind the figures invokes their living presence in the thangka painting.

Description

The seated Buddha dominating the composition is identified as Vairochana because of his hand gesture, the mudra communicating supreme enlightenment in which the index finger of one hand is grasped by the fingers of the opposite hand. His golden color and the tiny vajra—a six-pronged ritual object representing a thunderbolt—balanced on top of his finger suggest that he is in the guise of Vajrasattva, the summation of all enlightened beings. In his crown is the image of a monk, who is probably the guru of the donor, the small monastic figure at the lower right next to the lotus pedestal.

Provenance

?–1989

(David Tremayne, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)

1989–

The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Citations

Czuma, Stanislaw J. "Notable Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 3 (1991): 63–147. Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 122 www.jstor.org

Bly, Linda. An Important 12th Century Tibetan Thanka in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. [Place of publication not identified]: [publisher not identified], 1991.

Czuma, Stanislaw J. “Some Tibetan and Tibet-related Acquisitions of the Cleveland Museum of Art” Oriental Art (Winter 1992–93) vol 38:4. Reproduced: p. 233; Mentioned: p. 232

Rhie, Marylin M., Robert A. F. Thurman, and John Bigelow Taylor. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. New York: Tibet House New York in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1996. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 11, p. 48; cat. no. 222, p. 467

Kossak, Steven, Jane Casey Singer, and Robert Bruce-Gardner. Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: cat. no. 13, fig. 8, p. 18, p. 79; Mentioned: cat. no. 13, p. 80 libmma.contentdm.oclc.org

Siren 採蓮 (Bulletin of Chiba City Museum of Art) No. 2, March 31, 1999. p. 52, no. 5

Kossak, Steven. Painted Images of Enlightenment: Early Tibetan Thankas, 1050-1450. Mumbai: Marg Publications on behalf of National Centre for the Performing Arts, 2010. Reproduced: p. 60, fig. 40

Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 216–217

Exhibition history

Main Gallery Rotation (gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 4-November 7, 2016).

Notable Acquisitions. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 7-September 15, 1991).

Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany (May 1-August 31, 1996); Fundació "la Caixa", Barcelona, Spain (October 1, 1996-January 12, 1997).

Sacred Visions: Early Paintings from Central Tibet. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (organizer) (October 5, 1998-January 17, 1999); Museum Rietberg, Zürich (February 14-May 16, 1999).

Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-September 15, 2013).

Himalayan art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).

Cite this page

{{cite web|title=Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva|url=https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.104|year=c. 1150–1200|access-date=02 December 2023|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

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Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva

Tantric Buddha Vairochana as Vajrasattva

Central Tibet

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