Torso of a Standing Buddha

Object Details

• Previous custodian or owner

  Baron Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964)

  National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

• Provenance

  From 1940 to 1946

  C. T. Loo & Co., New York, from November 1940 [1]

  From 1946 to 1951

  Eduard von der Heydt (1882-1964), Ascona, Switzerland, purchased from C. T. Loo in April 1946 and lent to the Buffalo Museum of Science, Buffalo, New York [2]

  1951

  US Government vested Eduard von der Heydt's property under the provisions of "Trading with the Enemy Act" by vesting order, dated August 21, 1951 [3]

  From 1964 to 1973

  National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, from March 1964 [4]

  From 1973

  Freer Gallery of Art, transferred from National Museum of Natural History in 1973 [5]

  Notes:

  [1] See C. T. Loo's stockcard no. NYJ-1: "Small torso of a Buddha in red sand stone from Matura, first Century A. D.," Frank Caro Archive, New York University, copy in object file. According to the stockcard, Loo purchased the sculpture in November 1940 in India. According to J. E. van Lohuzien-de Leeuw, the sculpture was acquired by Loo probably through Gabriel Jouveau-Dubreuil (1885-1945), Pondicherry, see J. E. van Lohuzien-de Leeuw, Indische Skulpturen der Sammlung Eduard von der Heydt/Indian Sculptures in the von der Heydt Collection (Zurich: Atlantis Verlag, 1964), p. 42. In 1942 Loo exhibited the sculpture in his New York gallery, see C. T. Loo & Co., An Exhibition of the Sculpture of Greater India: A Fully Illustrated Catalogue, exh. cat. (New York: C. T. Loo & Co., 1942), cat. 28 (ill.).

  [2] See C. T. Loo's stockcard cited in note 1.

  See also "Catalogue of the Von der Heydt Loan to the Buffalo Museum of Science: Loan Material from Baron Von der Heydt, as of March 1949," where the sculpture is documented under an inventory card no. 4648.3, copy in object file.

  According to information on the inventory card, Eduard von der Heydt purchased the sculpture from C. T. Loo in April 1946.

  [3] See Vesting Order No. 18344, August 21, 1951, Office of Alien Property, Department of Justice.

  Eduard von der Heydt exhausted all the legal remedies against the forfeiture of his property provided to him by the Trading with the Enemy Act.

  [4] Attorney General, Robert Kennedy authorized transfer of the von der Heydt collection from Buffalo Museum of Science to the custody of the Smithsonian Institution in March 1964. The collection was transferred to the National Museum of Natural History.

  In 1966 US Congress legislated transferring the title of the von der Heydt collection to the Smithsonian Institution, see Public Law 89-503, 80 Stat. 287, July 18, 1966. The sculpture was accessioned under no. 448111, see "Smithsonian Office of Anthropology Accession Data," copy in object file.

  [5] The sculpture was among 13 objects in the von der Heydt collection transferred from National Museum of Natural History to the Freer Gallery of Art, see "Smithsonian Institution Intramural Transfer of Specimens" memorandum, dated January 29, 1973, copy in object file.

  The sculpture was accessioned to the Freer Gallery Study Collection under no. FSC-S-13 and subsequently transferred to the permanent collection in August 1976.

• Origin

  Mathura, India

• Credit Line

  Transfer from the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s, 400s

• Name

  von der Heydt, Eduard, buddha, National Museum of Natural History, Department of Anthropology, Smithsonian Institution

• Place

  Mathura, India

• Topic

  South Asian and Himalayan Art, Art, Gupta dynasty (300 - 699)

• Culture

  Buddhists, Himalayan peoples, South Asians

• Object Type

  Sculpture