Section of a Dharani Pillar (618–907): Art, History and Details

Section of a Dharani Pillar (618–907) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This octagonal stone pillar, with Buddhist figures carved on its eight sides, is part of a dharani pillar commissioned by Buddhist believers to pay tribute to the dead. The eight inscriptions seen here are eulogies dedicated by eight families to their deceased family members. Dharanis were a form of spell in Esoteric Buddhism said to possess supernatural power when being recited or carried and were incorporated into sutras, such as the Buddha Usnisa Vijaya Dharani Sutra. Dharani pillars, also called sutra pillars, became the dominant bearers of Usnisa Vijaya Dharani which supposedly helped sentient beings prolong life and destroy hardships of the eternal cycle of life and the realms of hell.

Object facts

• Title: Section of a Dharani Pillar
• Date: 618–907
• Culture: China, Tang dynasty (618–907)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: limestone
• Dimensions: Overall: 50.2 x 40.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 7/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Tang Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1929.983

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Hollis, Howard C. "A Chinese Buddhist Pedestal." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 19, no. 4 (1932): 56–63.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Yeung, Sara. "Stone Eulogies." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine, vol. 51, no. 4 (July/August 2011): 13–15.

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.