The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 24, 2025

Vertically long hanging scroll with a brown background over which multiple figures are outlined, detailed in muted red and light green. In the upper center and largest sits the cross-legged Buddha Shakyamuni with Fugen and Monju flanking the base of their pedestal and about half his size but all with light skin tones. More figures with medium or blue skin tones flank them, wearing multi-color, ornate garments and headdresses whose muted and worn away colors fade into the dark background.

Shakyamuni with the Sixteen Benevolent Deities

mid- to late 1300s

Japan, Nanbokuchō period

(1336–92)
Hanging scroll; ink, color, gold and cut gold on silk
Painting: 106.5 x 56.6 cm (41 15/16 x 22 5/16 in.); Overall with knobs and cord: 201.5 x 80.4 cm (79 5/16 x 31 5/8 in.)
Gift of Mrs. Henry S. Upson, 25th Anniversary Gift 1941.279
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This painting would have been the main icon for ceremonial readings of the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra.

Description

The historical Buddha Shakyamuni forms a triad with the bodhisattvas Fugen and Monju. Sixteen deities who protect the Buddhist scripture called the Great Perfection of Wisdom Sutra surround them. At the bottom left stands the Chinese monk Xuanzang, noted as a Buddhist scholar and translator of religious texts from India, including the Great Wisdom Sutra.
  • When it was acquired this painting was mounted in a panel format with gold brocade borders and a red lacquer frame. Previous damage to the painting that occurred prior to the current mounting—such as horizontal lines of abrasion and horizontal splits—indicated that the painting had previously been a hanging scroll. As the painting was delaminating from the panel, and there was some very distracting inpainting to compensate for loss of Shakyamuni’s robes, it was decided to treat the painting. During treatment, which took place between 2016 and 2018, the painting was remounted in the original hanging scroll format thanks to funding from the Conservation Ambassadors group.
  • ?–1941
    Mrs. Henry S. [Mary Southworth] Upson [1859–1944], Cleveland, OH, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art
    1941–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Vilbar, Sinéad. “Protecting the Word.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 61, no. 1 (Winter 2021): 20–21. Reproduced: p. 21; Mentioned: pp. 20–21
  • Stories from Storage. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 7-May 16, 2021).
  • {{cite web|title=Shakyamuni with the Sixteen Benevolent Deities|url=false|author=|year=mid- to late 1300s|access-date=24 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1941.279