The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 20, 2024

Mandala Base

Mandala Base

early 1400s
(1368–1644)
cloisonné enamel
Diameter: 30.8 cm (12 1/8 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1987.58
Location: 240B Chinese Decorative Arts

Did You Know?

In a meditation ritual known as Offering the Universe, the disc functioned as a mandala or cosmic diagram.

Description

A ritual object of Tibetan Buddhism, this cloisonné disc is used as the base for a three-dimensional mandala composed of miniature buildings. The decoration includes the lotus flowers and the Eight Buddhist Treasures: the wheel, the conch, the umbrella, the canopy, the lotus, the paired fish, the vase, and the endless knot.
  • ?–1987
    (Donald J. Wineman, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1987–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1987." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (1988): 30-71. Mentioned: no. 213, pp. 37, 71; Reproduced: no. 213, p. 53 www.jstor.org
    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. 82–83
    Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003. Comparative Material: cat. no. 42
  • The Year in Review for 1987. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 24-April 17, 1988).
  • {{cite web|title=Mandala Base|url=false|author=|year=early 1400s|access-date=20 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1987.58