Seated Buddha with Attending Bodhisattva IMAGE
1 media/SeatedBuddhaxBodhisattva_thumb.jpeg 2024-09-30T14:10:13-07:00 Erica Belden 2c58317b5121252bb69543f897890ff8473677c5 44801 2 Seated Buddha with Attending Bodhisattva, early 500s CE, limestone with polychrome plain 2024-10-29T17:14:03-07:00 Steve Briggs 20110310 101130 Erica Belden 2c58317b5121252bb69543f897890ff8473677c5This page is referenced by:
-
1
2024-09-29T16:33:11-07:00
Seated Buddha with Attending Bodhisattva (1934.34)
12
plain
2024-11-21T09:41:55-08:00
This Chinese Buddhist stele was likely positioned in the center of a temple enclosure allowing devotees to contemplate both the front and back. The figures present a stylized appearance emphasizing elongated forms and linear patterning, typical of the Northern Wei aesthetic. The front features the seated Sakyamuni Buddha, flanked by two bodhisattvas, at the moment of his enlightenment. He “calls the Earth to witness” by reaching down with his right hand. The back shows a standing Universal Buddha triad surrounded by a network of narrative scenes. They focus on the life and previous lives of Prince Siddhartha Gautama who became Sakyamuni Buddha.
Edited by Chloe Kolakowski, Class of 2025, College of the Holy Cross -
1
2024-11-19T08:50:15-08:00
What does this Sakyamuni Buddha tell us about the early global world?
4
plain
2024-11-21T09:41:36-08:00
The Sakyamuni Buddha sculpture reflects established early iconographic features of the Buddha image, which spread across the medieval world, particularly along the so-called “Silk Road.” Rather than a single trade route from East to West, the “Silk Road” should be understood as a web of networks linking communities across Asia, Africa, and Europe, from Japan to Britain and from Scandinavia to Madagascar. For instance, the ivory figure pictured here was carved in India but excavated in Pompeii, Italy.
A Chinese Buddhist stele, also in the Worcester Art Museum collection, displays the iconographic traits of the Buddha seen in the Mathuran image but adapted to a Chinese style. The Kushan Empire’s territory may be considered the crux for connectivity from the 1st to the 4th centuries CE. This sculpture underscores the rise of Buddhism, a missionary and devotion-driven faith that spread and linked communities, shaping medieval religious, political, and intellectual life.
Payton Van Meter, Class of 2027, College of the Holy Cross
.png){kind=link}