ClassificationsAsian Art

Shakyamuni Buddha

Place CreatedTibet, China, Asia

CultureTibet

Date13th-14th Century

MediumGilt bronze, pigment

Credit LineThe Ester R. Portnow Collection of Asian Art, a gift of the Nathan Rubin-Ida Ladd Family Foundation

Dimensions26 x 18 1/2 x 11 in. (66 x 47 x 27.9 cm)

Object number2002.035.001

Label TextThis gilded bronze statue from Tibet represents Buddha Shakyamuni, the “awakened (buddha) sage (muni) of the Shakya clan”. Seated on a throne of lotus petals at the moment of his awakening, his left hand rests in a posture of meditation while his right touches the earth lightly asking it to witness his enlightenment.

Other bodily markings also convey the Buddha’s enlightenment: he wears the robes of an ascetic, but his stretched earlobes recall the heavy earrings he would have worn as a young prince and his rejection of such material wealth. The bump emerging from the top of his head, the ushnisha, conveys wisdom. His hair, the color of a dark blue lotus, indicates his generosity and love for beings.

A teardrop-shaped turquoise inlay depicts the urna, a swirling hair between the Buddha’s eyes, which represents understanding. The eyes, half closed, look both inward in contemplation and outward, engaged in the world. His smiling face and golden complexion suggest compassion for all beings. Small spheres on his palms and the soles of his feet represent the wheel of Dharma, the Buddha’s teachings.

The Shakyamuni Buddha is simultaneously energetic and peaceful, weightless yet grounded. Faithful viewers would see both an exemplar of the path to enlightenment and the promise of their own potential.
Exhibition HistoryMCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, September 2004 - March 15, 2016
Doorway to an Enlightened World, Michael C. Carlos Museum, March 19 - November 27, 2016
MCCM Permanent Collection Gallery, January 17, 2017 - April 4, 2021
MCCM Permanent Collection Reinstallation, August 28, 2021 - Present
Published ReferencesMCCM Newsletter, December 2002 - February 2003.
Michael C. Carlos Museum: Highlights of the Collections (Atlanta: Michael C. Carlos Museum, 2011), 121.

ProvenanceSaid to be ex European collection. Purchased for MCCM by Robert Wazler [Nathan Rubin-Ida Ladd Family Foundation], Georgetown, Connecticut.

Status

On view

Collections