The New-born Buddha (400s CE): Art, History and Details

The New-born Buddha (400s CE) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This image of the newborn Buddha is rare and unusual. The common type represents him taking seven steps while proclaiming "I am supreme in the Universe." Here, he is represented as being bathed by the nine Nagas, with both hands down.

Object facts

• Title: The New-born Buddha
• Date: 400s CE
• Culture: China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: gilt bronze with inlays of blue glass and turquoise
• Dimensions: Overall: 19.4 cm (7 5/8 in.); Diameter of base: 6.8 cm (2 11/16 in.); Base: 3.1 cm (1 1/4 in.)
• Collection: China - Southern Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1955.46

A detail from the museum

The tang on the back of the Buddha's head shows that it originally had a halo.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “The Golden Image of the New-Born Buddha.” Artibus Asiae 18, no. 3/4 (1955): 225–237.
• Lee, Sherman. "The New-Born Buddha." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 43, no. 9 (November 1956): 202–204.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

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.