Barbarian Royalty Worshiping the Buddha (900s): Art, History and Details

Barbarian Royalty Worshiping the Buddha (900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Zhao Guangfu (Chinese, c. 923–976).

The work and its context

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

This painting begins on the right with 15 people following a dignified figure wearing headgear with twin pheasant feathers. He extends an incense burner toward the Buddha, who is seated on his lotus throne and flanked by two haloed disciples and two Heavenly Kings. The worshipers’ diverse physical features, regional finery, and religious affiliations suggest the universal appeal of Buddhism. The imagery was inspired by the foreign envoys who frequently came to the Chinese court to give tribute to the emperor. At the time, all outsiders were considered “barbarians,” so their presence was seen as acknowledgment of China’s political and cultural power.

Object facts

• Title: Barbarian Royalty Worshiping the Buddha
• Date: 900s
• Creator attribution: Zhao Guangfu (Chinese, c. 923–976)
• Culture: China, Northern Song dynasty (960–1127)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Handscroll; ink and color on silk
• Dimensions: Painting section: 28.6 x 103.5 cm (11 1/4 x 40 3/4 in.); Overall with colophon: 28.6 x 667.7 cm (11 1/4 x 262 7/8 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Handscroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1957.358

A detail from the museum

Sixteen "barbarians" pay homage to the Buddha, who is seated on a lotus throne with two disciples and two guardians.

Collection credit

Gift of Severance and Greta Millikin

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Goepper, Roger. 1000 Jahre chinesische Malerei. München: Haus der Kunst, 1959.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.

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.