Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas (537): Art, History and Details

Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas (537) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

According to the inscription, this stele was commissioned in 537 by Yuan'ning, prince of the Gaoping branch of the imperial Wei family, in memory of his deceased consort, in the hope that it would bring her to the Western paradise. It was carved by one of the finest craftsmen in the Eastern Wei capital of Ye in Hebei province. Here, the Buddha's robe shows a careful arrangement of patterned drapery (large U-shaped folds and scallop-shaped folds at the hem), combining linear rhythms with an ordered symmetry. Soaring flames edge the mandorla (almond-shaped halo), echoing the linear eloquence of Chinese painting.

Object facts

• Title: Stele with Sakyamuni and Bodhisattvas
• Date: 537
• Culture: China, Hebei province, Eastern Wei dynasty (534-550)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: limestone
• Dimensions: Overall: 77.5 x 44.4 cm (30 1/2 x 17 1/2 in.)
• Collection: China - Northern Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1914.567

A detail from the museum

Traces of polychrome paints remaining in the interstices of the carving, particularly on the foliate carving around Shakyamuni, suggest the stele was originally brightly colored.

Collection credit

Gift of the John Huntington Art and Polytechnic Trust

Further reading listed by the museum

• "Recent Accessions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1, no. 2 (1914): 1-3.
• MacLean, J. Arthur. "A Buddhist Trinity." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 1, no. 3 (1914): 2-3.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.

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.