Cleveland Museum of Art

Portable icon of Shakyamuni Buddha in the Earth-touching gesture

Date

late 1100s–early 1200s

Medium

Bronze

Culture

Cambodia, reign of Jayavarman 7th

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The Buddha sits surrounded by a circle of flaming jewels and full-blown lotus petals. Two rearing serpents emblematic of the glory of the Khmer Empire emerge from either side of his lotus pedestal. The Buddha’s right hand points down in the earth-touching gesture, and his left hand holds a round object, probably a special rice offering that indicates the Buddha’s power to ensure ongoing prosperity of the land. The branches of the pipal tree under which the Buddha reached enlightenment top the composition. Beneath his lotus pedestal, the earth goddess wrings the waters from her hair that wash away the army of Mara, the grimacing demons holding clubs and shields who flee to either side. Bronze images such as this were used to transfer a sacred presence from one temple to another.

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