Standing Buddha (c. 900): Art, History and Details

Standing Buddha (c. 900) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

The slender athletic Buddha extends one foot slightly off the lotus pedestal, suggesting his humanity enters our world from his transcendent state. With his right hand he signals that we should have no fear. The smooth signs of wear on the sculpture indicate that it was worshiped in Kashmir, where water and other ablutions were poured over sacred images during rituals. The Tibetan inscription on the pedestal states that it belonged to a royal monk named Nagaraja (Tibetan, active about 998–1026). Sculptures like this contributed to the transmission of Buddhism from India to Tibet and served as artistic models.

Object facts

• Title: Standing Buddha
• Date: c. 900
• Culture: India, Kashmir
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: brass with silver and copper inlay
• Dimensions: Overall: 98.1 cm (38 5/8 in.); Base: 28.2 cm (11 1/8 in.)
• Collection: Indian Art
• Department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
• Accession number: 1966.30

A detail from the museum

The Buddha grasps the end of his robe in his left hand.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• Stechow, Wolfgang. "Cleveland's Golden Anniversary Acquisitions." Artnews 65, no. 5 (September 1966): 30-64.
• Lee, Sherman E. “Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 53, no. 7, 1966, pp. 181–284.

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.