Amitabha Triad (1400s): Art, History and Details

Amitabha Triad (1400s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

This bronze triad depicts Amitabha, the Buddha of Western Paradise, at the center, flanked by two bodhisattvas: Ksitigarbha on his left and Avalokiteśvara on his right. Ksitigarbha is believed to rescue those tormented beings from purgatory, while Avalokiteśvara offers relief to those suffering in the mortal realm. An exceptionally rare statue from the 1400s, this piece entered the CMA’s collection in 1918. It was discovered in Korea in 1916 by Langdon Warner (1881–1955), who was serving as the CMA’s field agent. In a letter dated December 4, 1916, Warner expressed not only his excitement upon finding the triad in a local pawn shop but also his satisfaction at purchasing it at a significantly reduced price.

Object facts

• Title: Amitabha Triad
• Date: 1400s
• Culture: Korea, Joseon dynasty (1392–1910)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: bronze with traces of gilding
• Dimensions: Overall: 40.6 x 16.5 x 54.6 cm (16 x 6 1/2 x 21 1/2 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1918.501

A detail from the museum

The small scale suggests that this rare bronze triad might have been displayed in a personal shrine rather than a large worship hall.

Collection credit

Worcester R. Warner Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Warner, Langdon. "Bronze Korean Trinity." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 7, no. 6 (1920): 79–80.
• Lee, Sherman E. Buddhist Art. Detroit Institute of Arts, Twenty-Fourth Loan Exhibition, October, 1942. Detroit: Detroit Institute of Arts, 1942.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.