GENERAL DESCRIPTION
This sculpture is an example of the rich cultural interplay and hybrid art styles of the Gandharan empire in the first centuries CE. It represents the bodhisattva who will be born as the historic founder of Buddhism, Prince Siddhartha, sitting in a celestial abode called the Tushita heaven, where he teaches the gods and meditates on his future birth. Like other Gandharan bodhisattvas, he looks like an earthly prince, richly dressed and bejeweled, and impressively enthroned. The headdress and the figure's heavily moustached face belong to the Indian world, while the Buddha's body, with its naturalistic treatment of flesh and muscle and contrapposto pose, suggest Roman sculpture.
The lion throne has Persian antecedents as an image of regal power. The lion supports on his throne recall the Buddhist epithet Shakyasimha, "lion of the Shakya clan" as well as the pillars erected during the first Indian empire, the Mauryan Dynasty (322-185 BCE) by the Buddhist emperor Ashoka (r. 279-232 BCE), many of which feature a lion on the capital of the column. The Buddha was born into the Shakya, or lion, clan. In Buddhist iconography, lions are also protectors of dharma, the teachings of the Buddha.
The use of hard-fired ceramic instead of stone reflects the later Gandharan period from the 4th to the 6th centuries C.E. The medium of fired clay was expensive in the area around Hadda, from which the sculpture comes, as wood was scarce. Such an expensive sculpture would have been a very meritorious Buddhist offering.
Adapted from
Anne Bromberg, "Thinking Bodhisattva," in The Arts of India, South East Asia, and the Himalayas (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Have: Yale University Press, 2013), 49.
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PROVENANCE
1980: Family of Elisabeth Maria Coebergh (Ms. Coebergh), Netherlands and Paris, France.
n.d.: Moonsail, Ltd., on consignment from above [1]
2009: John Eskenazi Ltd., London, purchased from Moonsail Ltd.[2]
From 2010: Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation, the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, and General Acquisitions Fund.
[1] Copy of affidavit dated 30 September 2003 and signed by Elizabeth M. Coebergh. Copy provided to DMA by John Eskenazi March 12, 2012.
[2] Email dated March 12, 2012, from John Eskenazi to Carol Griffin, DMA.
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Anne Bromberg gallery talk: The Bodhisattva who was Budda
13309992: UMO
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Apply to objects where number equals 2010.17
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General Description
This sculpture is an example of the rich cultural interplay and hybrid art styles of the Gandharan empire in the first centuries CE. It represents the bodhisattva who will be born as the historic founder of Buddhism, Prince Siddhartha, sitting in a celestial abode called the Tushita heaven, where he teaches the gods and meditates on his future birth. Like other Gandharan bodhisattvas, he looks like an earthly prince, richly dressed and bejeweled, and impressively enthroned. The headdress and the figure's heavily moustached face belong to the Indian world, while the Buddha's body, with its naturalistic treatment of flesh and muscle and contrapposto pose, suggest Roman sculpture.
The lion throne has Persian antecedents as an image of regal power. The lion supports on his throne recall the Buddhist epithet Shakyasimha, "lion of the Shakya clan" as well as the pillars erected during the first Indian empire, the Mauryan Dynasty (322-185 BCE) by the Buddhist emperor Ashoka (r. 279-232 BCE), many of which feature a lion on the capital of the column. The Buddha was born into the Shakya, or lion, clan. In Buddhist iconography, lions are also protectors of dharma, the teachings of the Buddha.
The use of hard-fired ceramic instead of stone reflects the later Gandharan period from the 4th to the 6th centuries C.E. The medium of fired clay was expensive in the area around Hadda, from which the sculpture comes, as wood was scarce. Such an expensive sculpture would have been a very meritorious Buddhist offering.
Adapted from
Anne Bromberg, "Thinking Bodhisattva," in The Arts of India, South East Asia, and the Himalayas (Dallas: Dallas Museum of Art; New Have: Yale University Press, 2013), 49.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
1980: Family of Elisabeth Maria Coebergh (Ms. Coebergh), Netherlands and Paris, France.
n.d.: Moonsail, Ltd., on consignment from above [1]
2009: John Eskenazi Ltd., London, purchased from Moonsail Ltd.[2]
From 2010: Dallas Museum of Art, Wendover Fund, gift of David T. Owsley via the Alvin and Lucy Owsley Foundation, the Cecil and Ida Green Acquisition Fund, and General Acquisitions Fund.
[1] Copy of affidavit dated 30 September 2003 and signed by Elizabeth M. Coebergh. Copy provided to DMA by John Eskenazi March 12, 2012.
[2] Email dated March 12, 2012, from John Eskenazi to Carol Griffin, DMA.
AUDIO ASSETS
Anne Bromberg gallery talk: The Bodhisattva who was Budda
13309992: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
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