Buddha draped in robes portraying the Realms of Existence

Object Details

• 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)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to September 21, 2004)

  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

  probably 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)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s

• Name

  buddha, Taku, Shanfang

• Place

  China, Henan province

• Topic

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

• Culture

  Buddhists, Naga (South Asian people), Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Yes