The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of September 30, 2023

Standing Buddha

c. 900

India, Kashmir

Brass with silver and copper inlay

Overall: 98.1 cm (38 5/8 in.); Base: 28.2 cm (11 1/8 in.)

John L. Severance Fund 1966.30

Location

237 Himalayan

Fun Fact

He grasps the end of his robe in his left hand.

Description

The Tibetan inscription on the pedestal identifies the owner of this stunning image as Nagaraja, a royal monk from western Tibet who was instrumental in revitalizing Buddhism in this region. Sculptures like this were the stylistic source for subsequent artistic traditions in western Tibet. The wear on the sculpture's face indicates that it was actively worshipped in Kashmir for some time before it was brought to Tibet.

The slender athletic form of the body is clearly revealed. Vestiges of pleat lines that can be traced to the toga-like robes of Greco-Roman figurines—brought centuries earlier to the Indus River region—appear like stylized waves over the torso. The areas of articulation along the borders and hems convey a sense of energy emitting from the figure. His expression is serene, with silver and copper used to animate the face. His upraised right hand indicates that his teachings lead to the freedom from all fear.

Inscriptions

Inscription

inscribed with the name of the monk who commissioned it: Lhatsun Nagaraja (active from c. 998 to 1026)

Provenance
?–1966
(J.J. Klejman [1906–1995], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1966–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 232 archive.org
Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64. Reproduced: p. 35; Mentioned: p. 63-64
Lee, Sherman E. “Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 53, no. 7, 1966, pp. 181–284. Reproduced: no. 156, p. 251; Mentioned: no. 156, p. 284 www.jstor.org
“Art – The Cleveland Museum of Art’s Golden Show.” Newsweek (September 12, 1966). Reproduced: p. 102
"Cleveland museum of art golden anniversary." Archaeology, October 1966, vol. 19, pp. 277-283. p. 279
Burton, Richard. “Fifty Years of the Cleveland Museum of Art: Some Golden Anniversary Acquisitions.” The Connoisseur, vol 163:656 (October 1966) pp. 128-135. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 134
“'Golden Anniversary' Acquisitions by the Cleveland Museum of Art.” The Burlington Magazine, vol. 108, no. 764, 1966, pp. 574–579. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 48, p. 576 www.jstor.org
Selected Works: Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1967. Reproduced: pl. 34
“Art of Asia Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1966.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 21, 1967, pp. 75–103. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 79, fig. 15 www.jstor.org
Lee, Sherman E. “Clothed in the Sun: A Buddha and a Surya from Kashmir.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 2, 1967, pp. 42–63. Reproduced: pp. 42, 45, fig. 3 www.jstor.org
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 232 archive.org
Fricke, Berthold. The Cleveland Museum of Art. Hannover: Knorr & Hirth, 1970. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 90
Pal, Pratapaditya. Bronzes of Kashmir. Graz: Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt, 1975. no. 26, pp. 39, 100
Galeries nationales du Grand Palais (France), Réunion des musées nationaux (France), and Haus der Kunst München. Dieux et démons de l'Himâlaya: art du bouddhisme lamaïque : [exposition], Grand-Palais, 25 mars-27 juin 1977. Paris: Secrétariat d'État à la culture, Éditions des musées nationaux, 1977. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 36, p. 90
Archeologie, no. 107 (June 1977), p. 40
The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 294 archive.org
Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., and Maximilian Klimburg. The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the Trans-Himalayan Trade Routes. Los Angeles, CA: Published under the sponsorship of the UCLA Art Council, 1982. Reproduced: p. 103, pl. 27
Pal, Pratapaditya, and Robert L. Brown. Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art. Los Angeles, CA: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984. Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 114, pp. 230-231
Harle, J. C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. Harmondsworth, Middlesex, England: Penguin Books, 1987. Reproduced: fig. 196, p. 194
Pal, Pratapaditya. A Pot-Pourri of Indian Art. Bombay: Marg Publications, 1988. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 87, fig. 10
Czuma, Stanislaw. "A Unique Addition to the School of Kashmiri Ivories." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 8 (1988): 298-319. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 310, fig. 19 www.jstor.org
Rhie, Marylin M., and Robert A. F. Thurman. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. London: Thames and Hudson, 1991. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 4, p. 42
Stanislaw J. Czuma, “Some Tibetan and Tibet-Related Acquisitions of the Cleveland Museum of Art”, Oriental Art (Winter 1992/93) vol 38:4. Reproduced: p. 240
Fussman, Gérard. “Chilas, Hatun et les Bronzes Buddhiques du Cachemere.” pp. 1-60. In Antiquities of Northern Pakistan, vol. 2. Mainz: Verlag von Zabern, 1993. pp. 50-51
Harle, J. C. The Art and Architecture of the Indian Subcontinent. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994. Reproduced: pl. 146, p. 194
Lee, Sherman E., and Naomi Noble Richard. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 161, p. 130
Rhie, Marylin M., Robert A. F. Thurman, and John Bigelow Taylor. Weisheit und Liebe: 1000 Jahre Kunst des tibetischen Buddhismus. Bonn: Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1996. Represent: fig. 4, p. 42
Reedy, Chandra L. Himalayan Bronzes: Technology, Style, and Choices. Newark, DE: University of Delaware Press; London; Cranbury, NJ: Associated University Presses, 1997. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 166, fig. K76
Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 154-155
Sugimura, Tō 杉村棟. Isurāmu イスラーム. Tōkyō: Shōgakukan, 1999. no. 35, p. 59
Chuvin, Pierre, and Gilles Béguin. Les arts de l'Asie Centrale. Paris: Citadelles & Mazenod, 1999. Reproduced: p. 246, no. 295
May, Sally Ruth, Jane Takac, and Barbara J. Bradley. Knockouts: A Pocket Guide. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2001. Reproduced: no. 100, p. 90; Mentioned: no. 100, p. 119
Pal, Pratapaditya, Amy Heller, Oskar von Hinüber, and Gautamavajra Vajrācārya. Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure. Chicago, IL: Art Institute of Chicago in association with University of California Press and Mapin Pub, 2003. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 93, fig. 3 and entry 75, p. 122
Czuma, Stanislaw, "Great Acquisitions and Southeast Asian Art at the Cleveland Museum of Art," Orientations, An Issue in Honour of Sherman E. Lee (Jan/Feb 2005), vol. 36, no. 1. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 86
Phillips, Kristy. "An American Engagement with Kashmiri Art," Orientations 38, no. 7 (October 2007): pp. 63-68. Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 5
Stoddard, Heather. Early Sino-Tibetan Art. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2008. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 30-31, fig. 16a-16b.
Béguin, Gilles. Buddhist Art: An Historical and Cultural Journey. Bangkok: River Books, 2009. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 98, fig. 86
Weldon, David. "Two Bronzes from the Western Himalayas Revisited". Orientations 42, No. 5 (June 2011): pp. 65-69. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 67, fig. 1
Franklin, David and C. Griffith Mann. Treasures from the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2012. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 82-83
Siudmak, John. The Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Ancient Kashmir and Its Influences. Boston: Brill, 2013. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 476, pl. 226
Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 05, September/October 2013 Mentioned and reproduced: p. 16 archive.org
Wang, Michelle C. Maṇḍalas in the Making: The Visual Culture of Esoteric Buddhism at Dunhuang. Leiden; Boston: Brill, 2018. Reproduced: p. 77, fig. 24
Exhibition history

Dieux et démons de l'Himâlaya : art du bouddhisme lamaïque. Grand-Palais, Paris, France (March 25–June 27, 1977); Haus der Kunst, Munich, Germany (August 5–October 16, 1977).

Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (March 4-May 20, 1984); Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (June 30–August 26, 1984); The Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn, NY (November 1, 1984–February 10, 1985).

Wisdom and compassion : the sacred art of Tibet. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (April 17–August 18, 1991); IBM Gallery of Science and Art, New York, NY (October 15–December 28, 91); Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK (September 18–December 13, 1992).

The Art of Tibet. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (April 10-June 8, 1969); Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, DC (July 1-August 30, 1969); Seattle Art Museum, Seattle, WA (October 1-November 15, 1969).

Object in Focus: Toward a Definition of an Early "Western Tibetan" Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (April 24-June 24, 2001).

Arts of Kashmir. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 3, 2007-January 6, 2008).

Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1966.30