The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of June 4, 2023

Amitabha Triad

금동아미타여래삼존좌상 (金銅阿彌陀如來三尊坐像)

1400s

Korea, Joseon dynasty

(1392-1910)

Bronze with traces of gilding

Overall: 40.6 x 16.5 x 54.6 cm (16 x 6 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.)

Worcester R. Warner Collection 1918.501

Location

236 Korean

Fun Fact

This bronze statue that shows three powerful Buddhist deities was acquired in Korea in 1916 by Langdon Warner (1881–1955), the famous art historian at that time.

Description

This rare bronze triad from the 1400s shows Amitabha (아미타불 in Korean), or the Buddha of the Western Paradise, seated on a lotus pedestal at the center. He is flanked by two sacred attendants, Ksitigarbha (지장보살 in Korean) on his left and Avalokitesvara (관음보살 in Korean) on his right. The combination of these three Buddhist deities was particularly popular in the early Joseon period. The small scale suggests that this triad might have been displayed in a personal shrine rather than a large worship hall.

Provenance
1916–1918
Worcester R. Warner [1846–1929], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
1918–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Warner, Langdon. "Bronze Korean Trinity." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 7, no. 6 (1920): 79-80. Reproduced: Front Matter; Mentioned: p. 79-80 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. Mentioned: cat. no. 89, p. 35; Reproduced: cat. no. 89, p. 61
The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 892 archive.org
Kim, Hongnam. The Story of a Painting: A Korean Buddhist Treasure from the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation. New York: Asia Society Galleries, 1991. Mentioned: p. 47, cat. no. 4; Reproduced: p. 4, fig. 8
Cunningham, Michael R., "Land of Morning Calm", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 07, September 1997 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4-5 archive.org
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 239
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Mentioned: no. 94, pp. 85-86, p. 119; Reproduced: p. 86;
Choe, Song-eun. “About Amitabha Buddha Images of the Late Unified Silla and Early Goryeo Periods [나말여초 아미타불상의 도상적 고찰].” Kangjwa misulsa (2006): 213-234. www.dbpia.co.kr
Lee, So-young, Ja-hyun Kim Haboush, Sun-pyo Hong, and Chin-Sung Chang. Art of the Korean Renaissance, 1400-1600. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2009. Reproduced: p. 34. cat. no. 13, Mentioned: p. 101
Yim, Nam-su and Jeong Eun-woo. “Changes in Fashioning Small Gilt Bronze Buddhist Statues and their Techniques from the Late Goryeo to Early Joseon Periods [여말선초 소금동불의 유행과 제작기법의 변화]." Misul sahak (2010): 259-290. www.dbpia.co.kr
Glassman, Hank. The Face of Jizō: Image and Cult in Medieval Japanese Buddhism. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2012. Reproduced: p. 77, fig 2.11
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 130-131
Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 252
Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum Masters: 2016-17 Companion Guide. [Cleveland, Ohio]: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2016. Mentioned and Reproduced: P. 31
Song, Un-sok. "Korea's Joseon-Dynasty Buddhist Sculptures in American Museums" In Arts of Korea: Histories, Challenges, and Perspectives, edited by Jason Steuber, and Allysa B. Peyton, 218-243. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 222, fig. 10.2
McCormick, Sooa Im. "The Past and Present of the Korean Collection in the Cleveland Museum of Art." In The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, 국외소재문화재재단, and An Min-hŭi, ed., 22-37. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 23-24, fig. 9
Exhibition history

Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942).

Korean Art in Early Chosön, 1400-1600. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (March 17-June 21, 2009).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1918.501