The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of March 22, 2025

Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva
late 1100s
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
The most famous welcoming descent procession happens each year on April 14 at the temple Taimadera in Nara.Description
This ceremonial mask was used in a dramatic enactment of the descent of the Buddha Amida and his entourage to welcome the dying to his Pure Land. The mask represents the face of an enlightened being called a bodhisattva. Performances of the welcoming descent had begun by the early 11th century and continue at some temples today.- ?–1950(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1950–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Milliken, William M. “Important Acquisitions of Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 38, no. 9 (November 1951), pp. 211–217. Mentioned: pp. 212, 217; Reproduced: [no page number, after p. 212] www.jstor.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 905 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 274 archive.orgMayuyama, Junkichi 繭山順吉. Japanese Art in the West. [Tokyo]: Mayuyama & Co, 1966. Mentioned: p. 343; Reproduced: p. 35, pl. 42Rosenfield, John M. Japanese Arts of the Heian Period, 794-1185. New York: Asia Society, 1967. Reproduced: pp. 77 and 118, cat. no. 33The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 274 archive.orgThe Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 370 archive.orgYamane, Yūzō 山根有三, Shūjirō Shimada 島田修二郎, and Terukazu Akiyama 秋山光和. Zaigai Nihon no shihō [在外日本の至宝 = Japanese art: selections from western collections]. Tōkyō: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1978. Mentioned: vol. 8, no. 97, p. 156; Reproduced: color pl. 97Shimizu Zenzō, "Japanese Sculptures in America and Canada," Bukkyō geijutsu [佛教藝術= Ars Buddhica] , no. 126 (September 1979), part I, pp. 67–88. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 74, fig. 27Tanabe, Saburōsuke 田辺三郎助. Gyōdōmen to shishigashira 行道面と獅子頭. Tōkyō: 至文堂, Shōwa 昭和56 (1981). Reproduced: p. 63, fig. 126Lee, Sherman E., Michael R. Cunningham, and Ursula Korneitchouk. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 24–25, no. 8Hempel, Rose. The Golden Age of Japan, 794-1192. Translated by Katherine Watson. New York: Rizzoli, 1983. Reproduced: pl. 159, p. 164Vilbar, Sinéad. "The Japanese Art Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1915-1951." In Great Waves & Mountains: Perspectives and Discoveries in Collecting the Arts of Japan. Natsu Oyobe, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 160–197. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2022. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 183, fig. 7.18
- Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 10, 2013-November 17, 2015).One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650) from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Japan House Gallery, New York, NY (March 19-May 17, 1981).Japanese Arts of the Heian Period. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 5, 1967-February 19, 1968); Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968).Japanese Arts of the Heian Period: 794-1185. Asia House Gallery, New York City, NY (October 5-December 17, 1967) and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968).35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951).
- {{cite web|title=Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva|url=false|author=|year=late 1100s|access-date=22 March 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1950.581