Cleveland Museum of Art

Seated Buddha (sculpture)

Date: 1100s
Medium: gilded wood
Culture: Japan, Heian period (794–1185)
Department: Japanese Art
Institution: Cleveland Museum of Art
Object ID: 147589

From the Cleveland Museum of Art record

Composed of a number of hollowed-out pieces of wood that were then covered with lacquer and gilding, this sculpture served as an image of worship in one of the small temples surrounding Kōfukuji, a major Buddhist temple in Nara, Japan. Like many Buddhas, this figure has its right hand positioned in a gesture meaning "fear not." The left hand is a replacement, so its original gesture, a clue to this Buddha's identity, is unknown. However, as the left foot is exposed over the garment, in lotus position, it may have been created as a Medicine Master Buddha, Yakushi Nyorai in Japanese, or the Buddha of our era, Shakyamuni. This Buddha is sculpted in the Jōchō style, associated with the sculptor of the Amida at Byōdō'in in Uji.

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Provenance & credit

As published by the source institution. Coverage varies — not every institution's open-data feed includes ownership history.

Credit line: Gift of Takako Setsu and her husband, Iwao, in memory of her father-in-law, Inosuke Setsu, and his long friendship with Sherman E. Lee
Provenance: ?–1973: Setsu Takako 瀬津孝子, Tokyo, Japan, given to the Cleveland Museum of Art | 1973–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

Buddhist and Hindu Iconography
These objects are connected by their representation of sacred figures and deities from Buddhist and Hindu religious traditions across Asian cultures, including sculptures, paintings, and ritual objects depicting buddhas,
183 objects from 5 institutions