The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Shakyamuni Triad: Buddha Attended by Manjushri and Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva with Elephant)

Shakyamuni Triad: Buddha Attended by Manjushri and Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva with Elephant)

late 1300s

Did You Know?

Samantabhadra, the bodhisattva of universal virtue, is mounted on a six-tusked white elephant standing on lotus flowers.

Description

This triptych is a rare example of Yuan Buddhist painting. It depicts the historic Buddha Shakyamuni flanked by two attending bodhisattvas, Manjushri (the bodhisattva of wisdom, riding a lion) and Samantabhadra (the bodhisattva of universal virtue, riding an elephant). Below them are others seeking enlightenment: two disciples of the Buddha (Ananada and Kasyapa), two non-Chinese people, a boy with topknots, and a female worshiper.

The clouds above and around the divine beings form one scene that illustrates Shakyamuni’s sermon from the Lotus Sutra. This text became an important basis for Buddhist faith throughout East Asia and was central to the Mahayana school of Buddhism.
  • before 1888–c. 1945
    Reportedly from the Enman-in 円満院 located inside the Onjo-ji temple (also known as the Miidera temple) in Otsu City, Shiga prefecture, Japan
    after 1945–c. 1985
    Private collection, Japan
    c. 1985–before 2009
    Takashi Yanagi of Yanagi Fine Art Shop, Kyoto, Japan, to Koichi Yanagi
    ?–2009
    (Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Art, Kyoto, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2009–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Ōsaka Shiritsu Bijutsukan 大阪市立美術館. Sō Gen no bijutsu 宋元の美術. Tōkyō: Heibonsha, 1980. Reproduced: pl. 300
    Fenorosa, Tenshin no mita Ōmi: Meiji 21-nen rinji zenkoku hōmotsu chōsa kara: tokubetsuten [フェノロサ・天心の見た近江 : 明治 21年臨時全国宝物調查から : 特别展]. Ōtsu-shi: Shiga Kenritsu Biwako Bunkakan, Heisei 16 [2004]. p. 95
    Sō Gen butsuga: kaikan 40-shūnen kinen tokubetsuten [宋元仏画: 開館 40周年記念特別展 = The 40th Anniversary Special Exhibition: Buddhist Paintings of Song and Yuan Dynasties]. Yokohama-shi: Kanagawa Kenritsu Rekishi Hakubutsukan [神奈川県立歴史博物館 = Kanagawa Prefectural Museum of Cultural History], 2007. Reproduced: p. 38, pl. 5
    “Art of Asia Acquired by North American Museums, 2008-2009.” Archives of Asian Art, vol. 60, 2010, pp. 95–159. Reproduced: p. 109, no. 14 www.jstor.org
    Chung, Anita. "Re-emergence: New Chinese Galleries and Art Acquisitions of The Cleveland Museum of Art." Orientations vol 44 no. 8 (November/December 2013): 64-75. Reproduced: pp. 68-69, fig. 5
    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. 196-200
  • Six Dynasties of Chinese Painting (Chinese art rotation). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 10, 2023-May 5, 2024).
    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).
    Main gallery rotation (Gallery 244), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (March 11-July 7, 2015).
  • {{cite web|title=Shakyamuni Triad: Buddha Attended by Manjushri and Samantabhadra (Bodhisattva with Elephant)|url=false|author=|year=late 1300s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.342.3