Fang Xuanling Pedestal (647): Art, History and Details

Fang Xuanling Pedestal (647) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This double lotus pedestal exhibits the rich, ornate style of early Tang sculpture. It was commissioned by the Duke of Liang, Fang Xuanling (578–648), for the blessing of his second son and daughter-in-law, the Tang imperial princess of Gaoyang. The iconography and inscription suggest that it originally went with a statue, now missing, of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha, instead of Amitayus. Today the pedestal is topped with Amitayus, the Buddha of Infinite Life, seated in meditation. Although the pedestal was not made with the statue, the combination is faithful to the original artistic conception.

Object facts

• Title: Fang Xuanling Pedestal
• Date: 647
• Culture: China, Tang dynasty (618–907)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: marble
• Dimensions: Overall: 66 cm (26 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1915.334.2

A detail from the museum

In front, the top layer of the pedestal has an abstract curvilinear motif suggesting drapery; the rear is carved with a flower-and-leaf motif.

Collection credit

Worcester R. Warner Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1928.
• “Annual Report of the Year 1958.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 46, no. 6 (June 1959): 111–158.

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.