Head of a Bodhisattva
CultureChinese
Dateca. 515-520 C.E.
MediumGrey limestone with irregular occlusions
DimensionsOverall: 19 3/8 × 9 3/4 × 9 1/2 inches (49.21 × 24.77 × 24.13 cm)
Credit LinePurchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust
Object number33-1541
On View
On viewGallery Location
- 204
Collections
DescriptionCrowned head, facial features in the archaic style of the period including the flat forehead and temples, the high geometric spring of the eyebrows, thin slits of the sloping eyes, the archaic smile and flat, deep-cleft chin. Nose partially restoredGallery LabelChinese Buddhist sculpture, in both high and low relief, from the cave chapels at Longmen between about 500 to 525 A.D. represents the best of the early style as it survives in stone. Facial features of the style include the flat forehead and temples, the high geometric spring of the eyebrow, thin slits of the sloping eyes, the archaic smile and flat, deep-cleft chin. The effect is that of a transcendental being raised above the particularization of the human level to a state of universal and timeless equilibrium.
Longmen, Henan Provenance, China
Dr. Otto Burchard;
Purchased from Dr. Otto Burchard by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1933.
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