Plaque with the Image of Medicine Buddha Triad (676–935): Art, History and Details

Plaque with the Image of Medicine Buddha Triad (676–935) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This plate features an embossed image of the Medicine Buddha flanked by two attendants. The Medicine Buddha, a doctor who cures aliments with Buddhist teachings, is usually represented holding a bowl of medicine in the palm of one hand.

Object facts

• Title: Plaque with the Image of Medicine Buddha Triad
• Date: 676–935
• Culture: Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935)
• Type: Metalwork
• Technique: embossed copper plate covered with gold leaf
• Dimensions: Overall: 11.5 x 11 cm (4 1/2 x 4 5/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1987.59

A detail from the museum

The plate was created by hammering softly from the back of the metal sheet. This technique is called repoussé.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade 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 (1988): 30–71.
• Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 36 no. 09, November 1996
• Lee, So-young, and Denise Patry Leidy. Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013.

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.