Statue of Amitabha (800s): Art, History and Details

Statue of Amitabha (800s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This small sculpture shows Amitabha, the Buddha of the Western Paradise and the focus of the Pure Land sect of Buddhism, which was popular across East Asia, including Korea. This deity is recognizable from its right hand raised palm out in a gesture that reassures viewers to have no fear.

Object facts

• Title: Statue of Amitabha
• Date: 800s
• Culture: Korea, Unified Silla period (676-935)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: gilt bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 22.5 x 7.2 x 7.2 cm (8 7/8 x 2 13/16 x 2 13/16 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1998.79

A detail from the museum

Small statues like this work were designed to be portable, rather than to be permanently housed in a Buddhist temple.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Gwak, Dong-seok. Hanguk ui geumdongbul [한국의 금동불] . Seoul: Dareun sesang, 2016.
• Nelson, Sarah. Gyeongju: The Capital of Golden Silla. Routledge, 2019.
• Kang, U-bang. Hangung bulgyo jogang ui heureum [한국 불교 조각 의 흐름]. Soeul: Daewonsa, 1995.

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.