The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 19, 2025

Altarpiece with Buddha Enthroned

mid-1100s

Cambodia, found in Vietnam, near Ho Chi Minh City, Reign of Suryavarman II, Angkor Wat Period, 1st half 12th Century

bronze
Overall: 26.8 cm (10 9/16 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1942.149
Location: 243 Indian and Southeast Asian

Description

The crown and jewels of this Buddha indicate that he is a transcendent Buddha, not the historical Buddha who lived in the 5th century BCE. Small-scale bronze images of transcendent Buddhas were used in tantric practices as personal meditation images or in ritual settings. Tantric Buddhism was adopted as the state religion during the 12th century in the region of Angkor. A depiction of the tree that references the moment of the Buddha’s enlightenment is above the scalloped serpentine form of the niche under which he sits enthroned on an altar. An object interpreted as a lotus bud rests on the hands in his lap as he sits in a posture of meditation.
  • M. Bouasse Lebel
    ?–1942
    (Paul Mallon [1884–1975], Paris, France, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1942–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. Mentioned: cat. no. 31, p. 26; Reproduced: cat. no. 31, p. 50
    Lee, Sherman E. "A Cambodian Bronze Hoard." Art in America vol. 31, no. 2 (April 1943): 78–83. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 3, pp. 80–81
    Hollis, Howard. “A Cambodian Bronze Altarpiece.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 31, no. 7 (1944): 138–39. Mentioned: pp. 138–39; Reproduced: cover www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 790 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 242 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 242 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. 319 archive.org
    Bunker, Emma C., and Douglas Latchford. Khmer Bronzes: New Interpretations of the Past. Chicago: Art Media Resources, 2011. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 510, fig. 6.2
  • Khmer Sculpture. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (November 28, 1961-January 28, 1962).
    Indian and Indonesian Bronze. Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI (organizer) (November 2-30, 1955).
    Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Institute of Arts, Detroit, MI (October 1942).
  • {{cite web|title=Altarpiece with Buddha Enthroned|url=false|author=|year=mid-1100s|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.149