Miroku (Maitreya) (1300s): Art, History and Details

Miroku (Maitreya) (1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

In this image the figure of Miroku, Maitreya in Sanskrit, is richly adorned with gauzy fabrics, opulent jewels, and an intricate gold crown containing five seated Buddhas. Buddhist teachings say that Miroku will descend to Earth as a Buddha to restore Buddhist doctrine at the end of a long period of decline. Here he is represented as a bodhisattva, a being who has attained enlightenment but has chosen to postpone becoming a Buddha to help others reach enlightenment. Above the painting, three inscriptions present portions of a sacred text related to Miroku. A close look at the bodhisattva’s right side where fragile pigments have fallen away reveals writing on the back of the silk on which the image is painted— something its mounters never expected to be seen.

Object facts

• Title: Miroku (Maitreya)
• Date: 1300s
• Culture: Japan, Nanbokuchō period (1336–92)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: Hanging scroll, ink, color, gold, and cut gold on silk
• Dimensions: Mounted: 197 x 58.7 cm (77 9/16 x 23 1/8 in.); Painting only: 110.6 x 40.7 cm (43 9/16 x 16 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1999.195

Collection credit

Gift of Rosemarie and Leighton Longhi in memory of Robert P. Bergman

Further reading listed by the museum

• Longhi, Leighton R. Leighton R. Longhi: Forty-Five Years in Asian Art. [New York, N.Y.]: Leighton R. Longhi, 2019.
• Dobbins, James C. Behold the Buddha: Religious Meanings of Japanese Buddhist Icons. Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2020.

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.