The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

The Bodhisattvas of the Ten Stages in Attaining the Most Perfect Knowledge

The Bodhisattvas of the Ten Stages in Attaining the Most Perfect Knowledge

1454
(1368–1644)
hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Painting: 140.8 x 79.3 cm (55 7/16 x 31 1/4 in.); Overall with knobs: 227.8 x 120 cm (89 11/16 x 47 1/4 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1973.70.1
Location: not on view

Description

This painting represents bodhisattvas of the ten stages of enlightenment undergoing the final processes toward Buddhahood. This and the scroll nearby form part of a set of scrolls that were used to perform the Water-Land (shuilu) ritual. The sinuous curves of scarf and drapery, the layering of garments, and the minute detail all reflect the opulent visual atmosphere that surrounded the Ming worshipper in temples and spirit halls throughout the country.

In the upper right corner of each painting is an imperial seal and an inscription in gold reading: Donated on the third day of the eighth month in the fifth year of the Jingtai reign (1454) of the Great Ming. Written in ink in the lower left corner is the record that they were made on imperial order, probably to present them to the Da Longfu monastery in Beijing.
  • 1450–1456
    Ming imperial collection [Jingtai era, 1450–1456]
    ?-1973
    (Shunichi Yabumoto Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1973-
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • “The Year in Review for 1973.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 61, no. 2, 1974, pp. 31–79. Mentioned: no. 200, p. 79; Reproduced; p. 67 www.jstor.org
    Ho, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Reproduced: cat. no. 131a, pp. 153-154
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chugoku kaiga shi [中國繪畫史 = A History of Chinese Painting]. Tōkyō: Yoshikawa Kobunkan, 1981. Reproduced: p. 4, no. 5a
    Suzuki, Kei 鈴木敬. Chūgoku kaiga sōgō zuroku [中國繪畫總合圖錄 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalog of Chinese Paintings], 第 1卷. アメリカ·カナダ篇 [= vol. 1 American and Canadian collections]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Shuppankai, 1982. Reproduced: no. A22-012, p. 1-260
    Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1991. Reproduced: p. 61
    Barnhart, Richard M., Mary Ann Rogers, and Richard Stanley-Baker. Painters of the Great Ming: The Imperial Court and the Zhe School. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, 1993.
    Tōkyō Daigaku 東京大学. Kaigai shozai Chūgoku kaiga mokuroku [海外所在中国絵画目錄. アメリカカナダ編 = Catalogue of Chinese paintings in foreign collections: America and Canada]. Tōkyō: Tōkyō Daigaku Tōyō Bunka Kenkyūjo Fuzoku Tōyōgaku Bunken Sentā, 1994. p. 63
    Weidner, Marsha Smith, and Patricia Ann Berger. Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism, 850-1850. Lawrence, KS: Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, 1994. Reproduced: cat. no. 25, p. 284
    Weidner, Marsha, "Two Ming Ritual Scrolls as Harbingers of New Directions in the Study of Chinese Painting," Orientations (Jan/Feb. 2005), vol. 36, no. 1, p. 64 Reproduced: p. 64
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. Reproduced: pp. 211-217
    Chou, Ju-hsi and Anita Chung. Silent poetry: Chinese paintings from the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 2015. p. 214
    Giuffrida, Noelle. Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Chinese Art Collecting in Postwar America. Oakland, California: University of California Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 154, fig. 86
    Kungnip Chungang Pangmulgwan (Korea). Chosŏn ŭi sŭngnyŏ changin = Monk artisans of the Joseon dynasty: buddhist sculptures and paintings. 서울: 국립 중앙 박물관, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 70-73
  • Monk Artisans of the Joseon Dynasty. National Museum of Korea, Seoul, Korea (Republic of) (organizer) (December 6, 2021-March 6, 2022).
    Taming Tigers and Releasing Dragons: Masterpieces of Chinese Buddhist Art – Chinese Gallery Rotation 240a, 241c. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (February 8-August 11, 2019).
    Latter Days of the Law: Images of Chinese Buddhism 850-1850. Spencer Museum of Art (August 9-October 31, 1994); Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (November 30, 1994-January 29, 1995).
    Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982); The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (December 3, 1982-February 28, 1983).
  • {{cite web|title=The Bodhisattvas of the Ten Stages in Attaining the Most Perfect Knowledge|url=false|author=|year=1454|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1973.70.1