Buddha draped in robes portraying the Realms of Desire

Object Details

• Label

  According to the sacred text of the Lotus Sutra, when the historical Buddha delivered a sermon a vision of the entire cosmos often appeared before him, which is why he was sometimes called the Cosmological Buddha. The decoration on the front and back of this figure's monastic robe features scenes of the life of the historical Buddha and cosmic imagery.

  On the front chest of the robe, Mount Sumeru, a sacred Buddhist mountain believed to connect heaven and earth, is depicted with two snakes, or naga, entwined around it. Scenes below illustrate the historical Buddha as a prince before his enlightenment. The tortures of hell appear above the hem.

• Provenance

  ?-1923

  Taku Shanfang, Beijing, method of acquisition unknown [1]

  From 1923

  Freer Gallery of Art, purchased by Carl Whiting Bishop (1881-1942) from Taku Shanfang, Beijing [2]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Bishop List, Objects of Stone, No. S-9, copy in object file.

  [2] Carl Whiting Bishop purchased this on behalf of the Freer Gallery of Art on December 24, 1923, in Beijing from the art dealer, Taku Shanfang. See note 1. In 1922, the Smithsonian Institution and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston jointly appointed Bishop, a trained archaeologist, as the leader of a four-year archaeological expedition to China. Around the same time, the Freer Gallery of Art appointed Bishop as a curator and charged him with purchasing works for the museum while abroad. This work was first accepted into the Freer Gallery of Art Study Collection in December 1923. In 1968, it was transferred to the Permanent Collection of the Freer Gallery of Art. See Bishop Collection, Collections Management Office.

  Research updated April 18, 2023

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Promise of Paradise (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Body of Devotion: The Cosmic Buddha in 3D (January 30, 2016 to July 9, 2017)

  Promise of Paradise: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (December 1, 2012 to January 3, 2016)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)

  Chinese Art—Stone Sculpture (September 1, 1979 to March 14, 1982)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Taku Shanfang

• Origin

  Anyang, Henan province, China

• Credit Line

  Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment

• Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Freer Gallery 17: Promise of Paradise

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s

• Name

  buddha, Taku, Shanfang

• Place

  China, Henan province, Anyang

• Topic

  Vairocana Buddha, Sui dynasty (581 - 618), Heaven, Mount Meru, Art, Chinese Art, Lotus Sutra, Carl Whiting Bishop collection, Stone, Hell

• Culture

  Buddhists, Naga (South Asian people), Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Yes