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Torso of a Buddha
Torso of a Buddha

Torso of a Buddha

CultureIndian
Date5th century C.E.
MediumBuff sandstone
DimensionsOverall: 34 × 14 1/2 × 7 inches (86.36 × 36.83 × 17.78 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number39-19
On View
On view
Collections
Exhibition History

The Art of India: Stone Sculpture, Asia House Gallery, New York, September 25-November 18, 1962, no. 27 as Standing Buddha.


Indian Buddhist Sculpture in American Collections, Speed Museum, Louisville, KY, February 27-March 31, 1968, no. 33, as Torso of Standing Buddha.

The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and Its Influence, Kimbell Art Museum, January 11-February 25, 1979; The Art Institute of Chicago, March 24-May 6, 1979, no. 17 as Torso of a Buddha Image.

Gallery Label
This Buddha’s robe, draped like a wet cloth, emphasizes rather than conceals the body. The sculpture originates from Sarnath, a major center of Buddhist art production during the Gupta period. Gupta art from the North Indian cities of Sarnath and Mathura shared a highly refined court style favoring abstract and idealized figures that are now recognized as India’s “classical” style.
Provenance

With Hagop Kevorkian, New York, by August 23, 1937-1939 [1];

Purchased from Hagop Kevorkian by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1939.

NOTES:

[1] This object was on loan from Kevorkian to the Nelson-Atkins from August 23, 1937 until its purchase in 1939.

Published References

Simonetta DeVries, “Recent Oriental Museum Acquisitions,” in Parnassus 12, no. 2 (February 1940): 46, 48, (repro.).

The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, The William Rockhill Nelson Collection, 2nd ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1941), 141, (repro.).

Ross E. Taggart, ed., Handbook of the Collections in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 4th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1959), 225, (repro.).

Asia House Gallery, The Art of India: Stone Sculpture, exh. cat. (New York: Asia Society, Inc., 1962), 44-45, (repro.).

W. E. Begley, Indian Buddhist Sculpture in American Collections, exh. cat. (Louisville, KY: J.B. Speed Art Museum, 1968), unpaginated.

Ross E. Taggart and George L. McKenna, eds., Handbook of the Collections in The William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Missouri, vol. 2, Art of the Orient, 5th ed. (Kansas City, MO: William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, 1973), 121, (repro.).

Pratapaditya Pal, The Ideal Image: The Gupta Sculptural Tradition and its Influence, exh. cat. (New York: The Asia Society, Inc, 1978), 70, (repro.).

Roger Ward and Patricia J. Fidler, eds., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection (New York: Hudson Hills Press, in association with Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 1993), 377, (repro.).

Deborah Emont Scott, ed., The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art: A Handbook of the Collection, 7th ed. (Kansas City, MO: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, 2008), 260, (repro.).

Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art and Kimberly Masteller, Masterworks from India and Southeast Asia: the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (Kanas City, Missouri: The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in association with University of Washington Press, 2016), 34-36, (repro.).

Information about a particular artwork or image, including provenance information, is based upon historic information and may not be currently accurate or complete. Research on artwork and images is an ongoing process, and the information about a particular artwork or image may not reflect the most current information available to the Museum. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about a particular artwork or image, please e-mail provenance@nelson-atkins.org.