The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of October 15, 2026

Cast iron oxidized light brown depicts the Buddha's face with his eyes closed, horizontal slits marking his eyes and mouth. Rows of circular bumps create his hair. His nose has a narrow bridge and wide-set nostrils. A circular depression marks the center of his forehead and his ears extend the length of his forehead to mouth. It appears as if the head has been broken off at the start of the neck.

Buddha Head

1900s

Korea

cast iron
Overall: 41.8 x 33.7 x 32.1 cm (16 7/16 x 13 1/4 x 12 5/8 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund 1997.146
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

The hole or dot between the eyes on a Buddha statue is called the urna, representing spiritual insight.

Description

This Buddha has a soft and gentle smile, a typical attribute of Korean images of the Buddha. His plum cheeks and soft smile remind us of his childlike purity while his nearly closed eyes show him in a moment of meditation. The empty divot in the middle of the forehead would originally have contained a jewel symbolizing the light emanating from the Buddha. His head is topped with a profusion of snail-shell curls and an ushnisha, a mound symbolizing the Buddha’s enlightenment.
  • ?–1997
    (London Gallery, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1997–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major African Sculpture, Recent Mark Tansey Painting, and Other Works of Art Enter CMA Collection,” September 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
  • Object in Focus: Head of a Buddha. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 8-April 9, 2000).
  • {{cite web|title=Buddha Head|url=false|author=|year=1900s|access-date=15 October 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.146