Cleveland Museum of Art
Bodhisattva Vajrapani
- Date
- 700s
- Medium
- copper with traces of gilt
- Culture
- Nepal
- Department
- Indian and Southeast Asian Art
- Institution
- Cleveland Museum of Art
- Object ID
- 151004
From the Cleveland Museum of Art record
One of the earliest surviving tantric sculptures, this figure of Vajrapani—"he who holds the lightning bolt"—places his hand on a vajra , a thunder bolt symbol that refers to the lightning speed with which practitioners may achieve enlightenment when they follow tantric techniques. The prongs of the lightning bolt are in his hair; his arms are crossed, and a knotted snake is slung around his hips. Vajrapani's elaborate hairstyle, along with the gentle articulation of the cloth, subtly swaying postures, and introspective expressions are close derivations from 5th-century models, thereby implying an early date for the bronze.
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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
- The Pan Asian Collection, New York, NY | ?–1982: (Robert H. Ellsworth [1929–2014], New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) | 1982–: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
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