Cleveland Museum of Art
Buddha of the Future (Miroku Bosatsu)
- Date
- late 600s
- Medium
- cast bronze, incised, with traces of gilding
- Culture
- Japan, Asuka period (538–710)
- Department
- Japanese Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 439542
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
Buddhism was introduced to Japan in the sixth century. For early Japanese devotees, Buddhism offered the promise of salvation through faith in the Buddha of the Future, who would appear at the end of the world. The concept of eternal salvation held particular resonance with the Japanese aristocracy, who became the staunchest supporters of this new faith. Small sculptures like this one, with its gentle grace and powerful presence, were popular devotional objects. The Sanskrit name of this being, Maitreya, derives from the Sanskrit word for friend, mita .
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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
- John L. Severance Fund
- Provenance
- ?by October 1936–?: Kansetsu Hashimoto 橋本関雪 [1883–1945] to Hollis and Company | ? after 1936–1950: (Hollis and Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1950–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Part of a LinkedCulture topic
Buddhist and Hindu IconographyThese 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,
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