The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 26, 2025

Bodhisattva

c. 1200–1250

Japan, Kamakura period

(1185–1333)
lacquered wood with color, gilt copper, and cut-gold (kirikane)
with base: 76.2 cm (30 in.); without base: 55.9 cm (22 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1952.90
Location: Not on view

Description

This sculpture represents one of two bodhisattvas who flank the Buddha Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Life and Light. He has one foot in front of the other and his right leg bent at the knee to show that he is in motion; his torso also sways. He accompanies Amida as he descends to collect a dying person who has asked to be born after death into Amida’s Pure Land, a place conducive to progressing along the path to enlightenment.
  • Hara Tomitarō 原富太郎 [1868–1939], Yokohama, Japan
    ?–1952
    (Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1952–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Lee, Sherman. "A Japanese Wood Sculpture of the Kamakura Period." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 42, no. 3 (March 1955): 45–48.

    Published as Kwannon Mentioned: p. 46; Reproduced: pp. 46–47 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. 907 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. 275 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. 275 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. 371 archive.org
    Yamane, 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, vol. 8 ]. Tōkyō: Mainichi Shinbunsha, 1979. Mentioned: cat. no. 27, p. 127; Reproduced: color plate 27
    Zenzo Shimizu 清水善三. "Japanese Sculptures in America and Canada," Ars Buddhica 佛教藝術, no. 126 (September 1979), part I, pp. 67–88. Reproduced: fig. 8
    Hara Sankei kyūzō Nihon bijutsuten: Sankei Kinenkan kaikan kinen tokubetsuten 原三溪旧蔵日本美術展: 三溪記念館開館記念特别展 [Hara Sankei Former Collection of Japanese Art Exhibition: Special Exhibition Commemorating the Opening of the Sankei Memorial Museum]. Yokohama-shi: Sankeien Hoshōkai三溪園保勝会, 1989. Reproduced: pl. 132
  • {{cite web|title=Bodhisattva|url=false|author=|year=c. 1200–1250|access-date=26 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1952.90