Cleveland Museum of Art

Seated Buddha

Date

c. 300 CE

Medium

stucco

Culture

Afghanistan, Hadda, probably Tape Shotor

Department

Indian and Southeast Asian Art

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

Multiple images of seated Buddhas and related figures surrounded monuments called stupas that enshrined sacred relics. Made of stucco, which is a lime-based plaster material, the backs of the sculptures were fixed to the platform on which the hemispherical stupa was constructed. Visitors would see these images as they venerated the stupas by walking around them reverently, in a clockwise direction. The main stupa at Hadda reportedly contained relics of Shakyamuni Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of the Buddhism. The way the Buddha holds his hands on his crossed legs indicates that he is shown in meditation.

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