Manjuvara with consort (yab-yum) (c. 1100s): Art, History and Details

Manjuvara with consort (yab-yum) (c. 1100s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This miniature stele shows Manjuvara, a form of the the Bodhisattva of Wisdom Manjushri, in union (yab yum) with his consort (sakti). The intimacy between the deities, in accordance with Vajrayana Buddhism, is symbolic of the union between wisdom and compassion that leads to the bliss of enlightenment. Both figures have three heads and six arms holding their attributes: a sword (khadga), a bow (dhanus), an arrow (bana), and a lotus (padma). The sculpture is made in kaolinite, a clay-based stone frequently used in the northern regions of India and Burma. The exceptionally fine carving, executed with great precision and attention to detail, reflects the Pala style instrumental in the development of the Himalayan schools of sculpture.

Object facts

• Title: Manjuvara with consort (yab-yum)
• Date: c. 1100s
• Culture: Tibet
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Kaolin
• Dimensions: Overall: 7.3 x 4.7 x 2.5 cm (2 7/8 x 1 7/8 x 1 in.)
• Collection: Tibetan Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1987.44

A detail from the museum

A devotee would have carried this small devotional item as a personal, portable shrine.

Collection credit

Edwin R. and Harriet Pelton Perkins Memorial Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. “The Year in Review for 1987.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 75, no. 2 (February 1988): 30–71.
• Orientations, vol. 20, October 1989.
• Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003.

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.