The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Veneration of the Buddha as a Fiery Pillar

Veneration of the Buddha as a Fiery Pillar

200s CE

Did You Know?

The acanthus leaves sprouting from the pillar echo Greco-Roman motifs.

Description

At the bottom of this carved panel is the depiction of a pillar incised with cross-hatching and surrounded by a halo of flames. A stylized lotus and a pointed trident symbol marking good fortune and divinity crown the pillar. This image indicates the presence of the Buddha and underscores his superhuman qualities, including radiance and power to work magic. Two male figures hold fly whisks of honor on either side.

Above is a golden pillar covered with jewels that the Buddha miraculously generated. Swirling leaves sprout from grooved disks at regular intervals, and celestial beings fly and dance in praise.
  • ?–1943
    (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1943–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ramachandran, T. N. “Nāgārjunikonda.” Memoirs of the Archæological Survey of India, 1928. no. 71, pp. 9, 25, 36
    Coomaraswamy, Ananda K. Elements of Buddhist Iconography. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1935. Reproduced: pl. ii
    Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942. Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 5, p. 21
    Hollis, Howard. “A Relief from Amarāvati.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 32, no. 1, 1945, pp. 7–8, 11. Mentioned: pp. 7–8; Reproduced: p. 11 www.jstor.org
    Barrett, Douglas E. Sculptures from Amaravati in the British Museum. London: Trustees of the British Museum, 1954.
    Ramachandra Rao, P. R. The Art of Nāgārjunikonda. Madras: Rachana, 1956.
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 746 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. 230 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. 230 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. 290 archive.org
    Heeramaneck, Alice N. Masterpieces of Indian Painting: From the Former Collections of Nasli M. Heeramaneck. Verona, Italy: A.N. Heeramaneck, 1984. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 8
    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. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 2, p. 143
    Guy, John. Tree & Serpent: Early Buddhist Art in India. Exh. cat. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2023. Mentioned: pp. 229–230; Reproduced: p. 229, cat. 111
  • Tree and Serpent: The Evolution of Early Buddhist Art in India. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY (organizer) (July 17-November 13, 2023).
    Images of Enlightenment: Gems from Buddhist Art of Asia. Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (September 26-December 15, 1998).
  • {{cite web|title=Veneration of the Buddha as a Fiery Pillar|url=false|author=|year=200s CE|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1943.72