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A Jina Seated in Meditation
A Jina Seated in Meditation

A Jina Seated in Meditation

CultureIndian
Date9th century C.E.
MediumBronze
DimensionsOverall: 8 1/2 × 6 3/4 inches (21.59 × 17.15 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number62-49
On View
On view
Gallery Location
  • 228
Collections
Exhibition History

Master Bronzes of India, The Art Institute of Chicago, September 3-October 10, 1965; Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, October 21-November 30, 1965; Cleveland Museum of Art, January 18-February 27, 1966; Asia House Gallery, New York, October 12-December 11, 1966, no. 19 as A Jina (One of the 24 Tirthankaras).

Gallery Label
This meditating figure represents a Jina (literally, a "victor") also known as a Tirthankara. He was one of a succession of 24 great teachers in the Jain religion. The Jina’s nudity distinguishes it from an image of a meditating Buddha, which would be clothed. Nudity is practiced by ascetics in the Digambara sect of Jainism, which historically had many followers in South India.
Provenance

With Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, by 1962;

Purchased from Heeramaneck Galleries by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1962.

Published References

Art Institute of Chicago and William Rockhill Nelson Gallery of Art and Mary Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Master Bronzes of India, exh. cat. (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago, 1965), unpaginated, (repro.).

Pratapaditya Pal, “The Rich Variety of the Indian Bronze,” in Apollo, 97 (March 1973): 76, fig. 5, (repro.).

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), 130, (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), 383, (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), 263, fig. 19, (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.