Head of Buddha (900s): Art, History and Details

Head of Buddha (900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

While large Buddhist statues were made mostly in stone during the Goryeo period (918–1392), small ones were made in gilt bronze, as a portable object of devotion by traveling Buddhist monks.

Object facts

• Title: Head of Buddha
• Date: 900s
• Culture: Korea, Goryeo dynasty (918–1392)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: gilt bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 8.6 cm (3 3/8 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1985.190

A detail from the museum

A gentle smile crossing the Buddha's face here is a sign of compassion.

Collection credit

Gift of Robert H. Ellsworth in honor of Sherman E. Lee

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1985.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 73, no. 2, 1986, pp. 26–71.
• Goryeo Dynasty: Korea's Age of Enlightenment, 918-1392. San Francisco: Asian Art Museum, 2003.
• Yim, Nam-su and Jeong Eun-woo. “Changes in Fashioning Small Gilt Bronze Buddhist Statues and their Techniques from the Late Goryeo to Early Joseon Periods [여말선초 소금동불의 유행과 제작기법의 변화]. Misul sahak (2010): 259–290.

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.