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recto overall
Stele with Scenes from the Life of the Buddha
recto overall
recto overall

Stele with Scenes from the Life of the Buddha

CultureBurmese
Date11th century
MediumStone with traces of color and gold leaf
DimensionsOverall: 5 9/16 × 3 5/8 inches (14.13 × 9.21 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: acquired through the generosity of members of the Asia Society, New York
Object numberF72-12.1,2
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 222
Collections
Exhibition History

Sages and Heroes: Storytelling in Asian Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, April 12, 2025–November 30, 2025, no cat.

Gallery Label
This small stone slab, or stele, references multiple stories from the life of Shakyamuni Buddha. The large figure of Shakyamuni in the center depicts his enlightenment or nirvana, as he reaches down to touch the earth at the site of Bodh Gaya. This moment is one of Shakyamuni’s Eight Great Life Events. The other seven wrap the outer columns on the right and left sides of the stele, including his birth from the side of his mother, Maya, on the lower left and his intense meditation to the point of starvation on the lower right side. At the top of the stone, Shakyamuni reclines upon his death bed, referencing the parinirvana, or “final snuffing out” of his life from the cycle of rebirth.
Provenance

With Natagani, Inc., Chicago, by 1972;

Purchased from Natagani, Inc. by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1972.

Published References

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), 151, (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), 391, (repro.).

Natasha Eilenberg, et al., Living a Life in Accord with Dhamma:  Papers in Honor of Professor Jean Boisselier on his Eightieth Birthday (Bangkok: Silpakorn University, 1997), 113, 115, fig. 4, (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), 283, fig. 10, (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), 16-17, fig. 11, 42-43, (repro.).

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