Cleveland Museum of Art

Amitabha

Date

mid-1000s

Medium

gilt bronze

Culture

China, Yunnan province, Dali kingdom (938–1253)

Department

Chinese Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

This delicately crafted statue of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, bears testimony to the flowering of Buddhist art under the Liao Empire established by the Khitans, a nomadic Mongolian people, after the Tang persecution of Buddhists in 845. The Liao rulers were devout Buddhists who commissioned substantial religious projects. Liao Buddhist artifacts reflecting close ties to the Tang traditions were likely executed by displaced or enslaved artisans as a result of the Khitan conquest of northern China. This gilt bronze Buddha is similar in style to another rare piece in the Shanghai Museum, which bears an inscription dating it to 1043, the second year of the Shengming reign of the Dali kingdom.

The authoritative record is held by Cleveland Museum of Art. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.