Sculpture Mahasthamaprapta in Penn Museum
-- Its Iconology and Possible Time Period
On either side of the entrance door of Chinese section in Penn Museum are two particularly charming life-sized Bodhisattva statues in gray limestone, C111 and C112, which are considered as a pair and most likely to be made by the same artist. They belong to the T’ang dynasty, that period in which Buddhist sculpture reaches its height of perfection.
C111, the left side one, with a headdress, is the main sculpture that I want to discuss in this paper. Being purchased from C. T. Loo , who’s been considers as the leading Chinese artifacts dealer in the twentieth century , the statue, combines a bodhisattva image with a lotus base, is in excellent condition, although
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Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara and Mahasthamaprapta are repeatedly referred to in the Amitayurdhyana Sutra (The Buddha Speaks of Amitabha Sutra), which was translated from Sanskrit into Chinese in the third century A.D. According to the Contemplation of Mahasthamaprapta, the 11th Chapter of the Amitayurdhyana Sutra, the crown of the Mahasthamaprapta is described as follows: His heavenly crown has five hundred jewel-flowers; each jewel-flower has five hundred jewel-towers, in each tower are seen manifested all the pure and excellent features of the far-stretching Buddha countries in the ten quarters. The turban on his head is like a lotus-flower; on the top of the turban there is a jewel pitcher, which is filled with various brilliant rays fully manifesting the state of Buddha. Whereas in front of his headdress Avalokitesvara usually displays a small standing image of Amida, from whom he emanates , the iconography of Mahasthamaprapta's is a small water vase, which symbolizes wisdom. All the elements for a crown of Mahasthamaprapta can be seen from the picture of C111’s on the right. The Sutra also says: All his other bodily signs are quite equal to those of Avalokitesvara, which is proved by the similarities between C111 and C112, if we assume C112 is the image of Avalokitesvara though his crown is …show more content…
Let’s compare his face with the head of a bodhisattva statue from Longmen Cave. The sharp-ridged eyebrows, the contemplative almond eyes, the triangular nose, the pointed chin, comprised this typical Northern Wei and early Eastern Wei style head. All of these facial features differ from the soft and round ones in C111. Moreover, from another comparison with the beautiful limestone head from the cave temple of Xiangtangshan, we can see that this more contemporary one is still with sharper contours, especially of the eyes and the mouth. Here the idealized face of a full-blown Tang beauty from Tianlongshan, with a small, slightly opened mouth, is so expressive that it seems as though he is about to speak. The shape of the head is rounder and the carving for facial features is softer with time going by, so the bodhisattva is more and more nearly human looking. By executing vertical comparison with Wei Dynasty, Northern Qi and Middle Tang’s bodhisattvas’ heads examples, we could perhaps draw a conclusion that C111’s style is Early
Established during the early 8th century, an artwork known as The Pair of Lokapala, translated as the heavenly guardians, shapes the essence of early Chinese dynasty art sculpture. The 40 ½ x 16 ½ x 11 ¾ inch sculpture is focused around the Tang Dynasty due to its prominent years dating from 618-907 A.D. Furthermore, the materials to create The Pair of Lokapala was used with earthenware with three color lead glazes. Although the artist is unknown, the style of the artwork stretches the styling of Chinese sculpture, showing that the artist used those values to create the artwork. Therefore, The Pair of Lokapala evokes various aspects through Tang Dynasty art by emphasizing two guardians through the subject matter, arranging many formal
This pair figures represent Yuny and his wife, Renenutet seated with rigidly formal posture next to him. This statue depicts a powerful couple that looks straight ahead, with their heads held up and blank eyes widely open. The form of their features and
The subject of this piece is a Buddha named Maitreya. He is a strongly built man wearing a robe that drapes fluidly off of his body. The piece is constructed from gild bronze and was crafted using piece mold casting. Maitreya faces onlookers with open arms and a smile. The piece was obviously meant to be placed against a wall, as is obvious from the fact that the back is left open and is not meant for display.
Later images display attributes of both genders. One interpretation of this development contends that the bodhisattva is neither male nor female but has transcended sexual distinctions, as he has all other dualities in the sphere of samsara (the temporal world). According to this opinion, the flowing drapery and soft
sculpture in their honor. Created during the Tang Dynasty in 742 by an unknown artist in
The Colossal Statue of King Tuthankhamun and the Lamassu are amazing works of art. Of the eight works assigned, these two particularly caught my eye. The two pieces, though very different, have many similarities. In this paper, I will discuss these similarities and differences of style in terms of their overall shape, proportions, and individual parts.
Pensive Bodhisattva has typical features of the Buddhist artworks. Also, the interesting aspect is we can see the unique features of the Three Kingdom Period’s artwork through this sculpture. When we see this sculpture at first, the most noticeable point is the bodhisattva’s posture. He sits on the dais and he puts his right leg over his left leg. The right leg also props his right elbow and his fingers especially the forefinger and the middle finger touch his right chin and he rests his left hand neatly on his right ankle. The description of his fingers and toes are very realistic. When we see the fingers and toes, we can feel how the artist put his or her blood into sculpting each fingers and toes. However, his posture seems agonizing. When we take a closer look his face, his eyes are closed and he puts gentle smile on his lips. For that reason, his posture reminds us his anguish, but at the same time, his facial expression
The group of objects chosen for this paper comes from the collection of the Saint Louis Art Museum. The title of both pieces is called Seated Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin). Both these pieces which are statues were sculpted in china. The earliest statue was made during the Tang dynasty. While, the later statue was made during the Northern Song dynasty. These statues were chosen because the same deity is depicted and were made in a similar geographic and cultural location. This allows for the comparison of the different styles between the 2 periods. The statue made during the Northern Song dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara sitting in a pose called the relaxed pose or easy pose. This statue also depicts the Bodhisattva adorned in lavish silk garments while a jeweled crown sits atop his head. The statue is carved from wood and painted with gesso, pigments, and gilding. The statue made during the Tang Dynasty depicts the Bodhisattva sitting in the easy pose as well. It also depicts the Bodhisattva in flowing robes while wearing a string of jewels.
Buddha Amitabha is a bronze statue that was found in Zhaozhou Hebei of China. It was made in Sui
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Located at the Horyu-ji temple, the Shaka Triad, also known as the Shaka Trinity, stands 3.82 meters high from the base of the pedestal to the tip of the mandorla. The stature was created out of gilded bronze in several pieces before being put together, and consists of the historical Buddha, Shakyamuni, bordered by two bodhisattvas. Each bodhisattva is 0.91 m high, while the central figure, measures out to be 0.86 m. The three figures are situated on a wooden pedestal, backed by a bronze mandorla, decorated with smaller seated Buddha’s cast in relief. The sculpture has been beautifully preserved, although the gilding on the bodhisattvas has become slightly blackened.
This work is a 33-foot-long, 10-panel painting which features an assortment of cartoon -like Buddhist figures. This piece is incredibly detailed and holds a lot of information within its imagery. Arhats are considered to be Buddha’s devotees, so this work relates more to religious themes. The theme of multi-coloured acrylic carries on into this work with rainbow eyes, tongues and more. The title “100 Arhats” states exactly how many arhats are present in this piece – one hundred – believe me, I counted. The Arhats vary in size and type, some being more humanoid than others which appear to be more akin to animalistic creatures, the piece is also accompanied by figures that may not be arhats, and instead are dragon or feline-like creatures. Each figure, however, relates to one another in that all have somewhat gruesome facial expressions, frowning and wrinkled, some even with an array of
Within the time period in which it was crafted, figures of the Buddha, like that of Sarnath, have begun to displace the stupa, a mound-like structure that contained relics, as the norm in sacred Buddhist Architecture. The sandstone sculpture depicts a seated, soft, and full-bodied depiction of the Buddha; these soft and relaxed characteristics are evident in both the sculpture of the Seated Scribe from Egypt, as well as many other pieces of Buddhist art. A monastic robe covers both of his shoulders and his heavy lidded eyes are downcast in meditation. The figure of the Buddha is shown above the infamous wheel of law; this wheel was used within ancient representations in order to signify royalty or a universal monarch. In addition to showing the wheel of law, the figure is depicted with its hands in front in the Dharmachakra-mudra, otherwise known as the gesture of preaching or ‘turning the wheel of law’. Furthermore, there is a certain idealism applied to this statue of The Buddha, much like other Buddha representations that are created elsewhere, in order to emphasize spirituality. The earlobes of The Buddha are elongated, a symbolic reference to the former wealth of The Buddha while he was a prince. Although The Buddha left the palace to become an ascetic while on the search for the
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Buddhist monk from childhood to old age in the flow of four seasons. Kim depicts two important