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Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Lotus Pedestal
- Title Translation: 菩萨莲花台
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Guardian King
- Title Translation: 菩萨立像
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Standing Bodhisattva, robed, holding flywhisk and unidentified object.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Stone head of bodhisattva. Hard dark stone. Life size. Narrow oval face with half-closed eyes and tiny mouth; no urna; long ears with pierced lobes and earrings; three peaked headdress with tassels partly missing.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: Although the Northern Qi was a shortlived state in northeastern China, it once served as a major center for the development of Buddhism. Its rulers were fervent followers of Buddhism and patrons of innumerable temple building projects. A major focus of their efforts was the great rock-cut cave complex at Xiangtangshan on the border between Hebei and Henan. This head once belonged to a colossal statue at this site. Its rounded, rather youthful face and smooth contours are typical of the stylistic development of the time.
550 - 577
Bodhisattvas Standing
- Title Translation: 菩萨立像
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: This figure sculpted from stone represents the Bodhissatva Guanyin, an important Buddhist deity, also known as the Bodhissatva of Compassion and Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit and who embodies the compassion of all Buddhas. Depictions of Guanyin feature very widely in Chinese material culture from the earliest times of Buddhist worship in China in the late 2nd century AD. Guanyin can be identified by the small figure of the Amitaba Buddha that sits in his crown. Bodhisattvas (with Museum No.A7-1913) are spiritually enlightened beings who help others attain enlightnment. Here they each hold a lotus bud as a symbol of purity and goodness. The lotus also represents the potential for attaining enlightenment.
550 - 577
Southern Xiangtangshan, seated bodhisattva
- Title Translation: 南响堂山洞穴群 , 坐菩萨
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Xiangtangshan Caves
- Work Description: The two main groups of caves are known as Northern and Southern Xiangtangshan. The Northern Group, Bei Xiangtang, is the earliest and largest in scale and has three caves begun with imperial sponsorship; the Southern Group, Nan Xiangtang, has smaller caves numbered from one to seven; and a third site at Shuiyusi, also known as Xiao Xiangtang or “Little Xiangtang,” has one Northern Qi cave with sculptures.
550 - 577
Longmen Binyang Central Cave, central Buddha, assisted by two bodhisattvas and two disciples on each side
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳中洞 , 中央为佛,两侧各有两名菩萨和两名弟子侍立
- Period: Northern Wei, 386–534 C.E.
- Project: Longmen Binyang Central Cave
- Work Description: The Longmen Caves are located outside the city of Luoyang, China, about 500 miles southeast of the modern-day capital in Beijing. Established in the late fifth century, the site consists of 2,345 caves, and over 100,000 individual Buddhist statues, ranging in height from a few inches to over 56 feet. For more than 250 years, Chinese Buddhists from all walks of life sponsored the addition of Buddhist statues and inscriptions to the site, most significantly from the late Northern Wei (386-534) through the Tang dynasty (618-907). Binyang Central Cave is one of the earliest at Longmen and a major monument of Chinese Buddhism. Begun around the year 501, it was commissioned by the youthful Emperor Xuanwu (483-515) and dedicated to his father, Emperor Xiaowen, who died in 499 at age thirty-three. The cave is one of the major monuments of Chinese Buddhism. MEasuring roughly 30 feet in each dimension, its principal image is 28-foot-high seated Buddha largly filling the back of the cave and accompanied by smaller standing figures—disciples, Buddhas, and bodhisattva—on either side. The exit wall contained some of the finest stone relief carvings of the era, including depictions of two imperial processions, and a number of stories from Buddhist scriptures. After cave-making was discontinued for nearly a thousand years, the Longmen site was "discovered" by foreign scholars in the late 1800s. The publication of their studies with photos attracted international attention to the artistic quality of the sculptures. The publications ultimately led to the looting of much of the site in the early part of the twentieth century. In response to demand from art dealers, collectors, and museums around the globe, local stonecutters removed countless works from the caves, often breaking them into numerous fragments in the process. Pieces from the greater Longmen complex can now be found scattered throughout the world. In Binyang Central Cave, several heads and large portions of the relief carvings were cut or burned out of the walls. Fragments from Binyang Central Cave now reside in museums in the US and Japan, as well as in storage at the Longmen Research Institute in China. Many shattered pieces are identifiable today with the evidence of historical photographs and rubbings taken of the reliefs before their removal.
386 - 534
Longmen Binyang Central Cave, northeast corner, showing bodhisattva and removed donors relief ("Emperor Xiaowen and his entourage worshipping the Buddha")
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳中洞 , 东北角,展示菩萨和移走的施主浮雕(“孝文帝一行礼佛”)
- Period: Northern Wei, 386–534 C.E.
- Project: Longmen Binyang Central Cave
- Work Description: Together with a companion piece showing an empress and her attendants (now in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City), this depiction of an emperor and his entourage once adorned the Central Binyang Cave (also known as Cave 3) in the Longmen complex, near Luoyang, in Henan province. It was positioned centrally on the northeast wall between a group of protective semidivinities above and a narrative debate scene below. Xuanwu commissioned the construction of the Central Binyang Cave in honor of his father, the emperor Xiaowen (r. 471–99), and his mother, the dowager Wenzhou (d. 494); the emperor and empress in the reliefs are therefore believed to refer to his parents. A figure wearing court garments and holding a tasseled baton leads the procession. He is followed by a smaller figure wearing armor and another who stands before the emperor, holding an incense burner. The trees originally indicated the point at which the procession moved around a corner, from the north to the east wall. Several of the attendants hold lotuses or other flowers and offerings, and the entire procession can be understood as making offerings to the Buddhas in the cave, an act of merit making that would continue in perpetuity and improve the future lives of the participants.
386 - 534
Longmen Binyang Central Cave, lion and bodhisattvas on north wall
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳中洞 , 北壁狮子与菩萨
- Period: Northern Wei, 386–534 C.E.
- Project: Longmen Binyang Central Cave
- Work Description: The Longmen Caves are located outside the city of Luoyang, China, about 500 miles southeast of the modern-day capital in Beijing. Established in the late fifth century, the site consists of 2,345 caves, and over 100,000 individual Buddhist statues, ranging in height from a few inches to over 56 feet. For more than 250 years, Chinese Buddhists from all walks of life sponsored the addition of Buddhist statues and inscriptions to the site, most significantly from the late Northern Wei (386-534) through the Tang dynasty (618-907). Binyang Central Cave is one of the earliest at Longmen and a major monument of Chinese Buddhism. Begun around the year 501, it was commissioned by the youthful Emperor Xuanwu (483-515) and dedicated to his father, Emperor Xiaowen, who died in 499 at age thirty-three. The cave is one of the major monuments of Chinese Buddhism. MEasuring roughly 30 feet in each dimension, its principal image is 28-foot-high seated Buddha largly filling the back of the cave and accompanied by smaller standing figures—disciples, Buddhas, and bodhisattva—on either side. The exit wall contained some of the finest stone relief carvings of the era, including depictions of two imperial processions, and a number of stories from Buddhist scriptures. After cave-making was discontinued for nearly a thousand years, the Longmen site was "discovered" by foreign scholars in the late 1800s. The publication of their studies with photos attracted international attention to the artistic quality of the sculptures. The publications ultimately led to the looting of much of the site in the early part of the twentieth century. In response to demand from art dealers, collectors, and museums around the globe, local stonecutters removed countless works from the caves, often breaking them into numerous fragments in the process. Pieces from the greater Longmen complex can now be found scattered throughout the world. In Binyang Central Cave, several heads and large portions of the relief carvings were cut or burned out of the walls. Fragments from Binyang Central Cave now reside in museums in the US and Japan, as well as in storage at the Longmen Research Institute in China. Many shattered pieces are identifiable today with the evidence of historical photographs and rubbings taken of the reliefs before their removal.
386 - 534
Longmen Binyang Central Cave, south wall standing bodhisattva head
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳中洞 , 南壁立菩萨头
- Period: Northern Wei, 386–534 C.E.
- Project: Longmen Binyang Central Cave
- Work Description: The Longmen Caves are located outside the city of Luoyang, China, about 500 miles southeast of the modern-day capital in Beijing. Established in the late fifth century, the site consists of 2,345 caves, and over 100,000 individual Buddhist statues, ranging in height from a few inches to over 56 feet. For more than 250 years, Chinese Buddhists from all walks of life sponsored the addition of Buddhist statues and inscriptions to the site, most significantly from the late Northern Wei (386-534) through the Tang dynasty (618-907). Binyang Central Cave is one of the earliest at Longmen and a major monument of Chinese Buddhism. Begun around the year 501, it was commissioned by the youthful Emperor Xuanwu (483-515) and dedicated to his father, Emperor Xiaowen, who died in 499 at age thirty-three. The cave is one of the major monuments of Chinese Buddhism. MEasuring roughly 30 feet in each dimension, its principal image is 28-foot-high seated Buddha largly filling the back of the cave and accompanied by smaller standing figures—disciples, Buddhas, and bodhisattva—on either side. The exit wall contained some of the finest stone relief carvings of the era, including depictions of two imperial processions, and a number of stories from Buddhist scriptures. After cave-making was discontinued for nearly a thousand years, the Longmen site was "discovered" by foreign scholars in the late 1800s. The publication of their studies with photos attracted international attention to the artistic quality of the sculptures. The publications ultimately led to the looting of much of the site in the early part of the twentieth century. In response to demand from art dealers, collectors, and museums around the globe, local stonecutters removed countless works from the caves, often breaking them into numerous fragments in the process. Pieces from the greater Longmen complex can now be found scattered throughout the world. In Binyang Central Cave, several heads and large portions of the relief carvings were cut or burned out of the walls. Fragments from Binyang Central Cave now reside in museums in the US and Japan, as well as in storage at the Longmen Research Institute in China. Many shattered pieces are identifiable today with the evidence of historical photographs and rubbings taken of the reliefs before their removal.
386 - 534
Longmen Binyang Central Cave, south wall and central Buddha
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳中洞 , 南壁和中央佛
- Period: Northern Wei, 386–534 C.E.
- Project: Longmen Binyang Central Cave
- Work Description: The Longmen Caves are located outside the city of Luoyang, China, about 500 miles southeast of the modern-day capital in Beijing. Established in the late fifth century, the site consists of 2,345 caves, and over 100,000 individual Buddhist statues, ranging in height from a few inches to over 56 feet. For more than 250 years, Chinese Buddhists from all walks of life sponsored the addition of Buddhist statues and inscriptions to the site, most significantly from the late Northern Wei (386-534) through the Tang dynasty (618-907). Binyang Central Cave is one of the earliest at Longmen and a major monument of Chinese Buddhism. Begun around the year 501, it was commissioned by the youthful Emperor Xuanwu (483-515) and dedicated to his father, Emperor Xiaowen, who died in 499 at age thirty-three. The cave is one of the major monuments of Chinese Buddhism. MEasuring roughly 30 feet in each dimension, its principal image is 28-foot-high seated Buddha largly filling the back of the cave and accompanied by smaller standing figures—disciples, Buddhas, and bodhisattva—on either side. The exit wall contained some of the finest stone relief carvings of the era, including depictions of two imperial processions, and a number of stories from Buddhist scriptures. After cave-making was discontinued for nearly a thousand years, the Longmen site was "discovered" by foreign scholars in the late 1800s. The publication of their studies with photos attracted international attention to the artistic quality of the sculptures. The publications ultimately led to the looting of much of the site in the early part of the twentieth century. In response to demand from art dealers, collectors, and museums around the globe, local stonecutters removed countless works from the caves, often breaking them into numerous fragments in the process. Pieces from the greater Longmen complex can now be found scattered throughout the world. In Binyang Central Cave, several heads and large portions of the relief carvings were cut or burned out of the walls. Fragments from Binyang Central Cave now reside in museums in the US and Japan, as well as in storage at the Longmen Research Institute in China. Many shattered pieces are identifiable today with the evidence of historical photographs and rubbings taken of the reliefs before their removal.
386 - 534
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: This bodhisattva head is believed to be from Cave 16 where many of the bodhisattvas had elaborately decorated crowns. This crown appears to have some damage and restoration.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Standing
- Title Translation: 立菩萨
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The figure once stood on the north wall of Cave 14 beside the seated Buddha. Its head is now in the Barnes Foundation.
618 - 907
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The bodhisattva head wearing elaborate crown is possibly from Cave 16.
550 - 577
Bodhisattva Standing
- Title Translation: 立菩萨
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The bodhisattva, one of a pair of standing bodhisattvas from Cave 4, holds a loop of his long trailing scarf in one hand.
618 - 907
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Sui, 581-618 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The head, from the north wall of Cave 8, was damaged and rather extensively repaired when acquired. The restored portions have since been removed.
581 - 618
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Tang, 618-907 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: The head is from the standing bodhisattva figure on the east wall of Cave 14.
618 - 907
Bodhisattva Head
- Title Translation: 菩萨头
- Period: Northern Qi, 550-577 C.E.
- Project: Tianlongshan Caves
- Work Description: is from a freestanding figure that was outside of the niche on the north wall of Cave 16.
550 - 577
Dazhi Hall (Dazhidian, Hall of Great Wisdom), Manjusuri
- Title Translation: 大智殿 , 文殊
- Period: Ming, c. 1444 C.E.
- Project: Beijing Zhihua Temple
- Work Description: The Dazhi Hall is located east of the Zhihua Hall and opposite from the Sutra Hall. The hall initially enshrined three bodhisattvas, Avolokiteśvara attended by Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra on an altar. Though different in function and interior layout, the Dazhi Hall has the exact measurements and structure as the Sutra Hall, its counterpart across from the courtyard.
1444
Dazhi Hall (Dazhidian, Hall of Great Wisdom), three seated bodhisattvas
- Title Translation: 大智殿 , 三坐菩萨
- Period: Ming, c. 1444 C.E.
- Project: Beijing Zhihua Temple
- Work Description: The Dazhi Hall is located east of the Zhihua Hall and opposite from the Sutra Hall. The hall initially enshrined three bodhisattvas, Avolokiteśvara attended by Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra on an altar. Though different in function and interior layout, the Dazhi Hall has the exact measurements and structure as the Sutra Hall, its counterpart across from the courtyard.
1444
Dazhi Hall (Dazhidian, Hall of Great Wisdom), altar
- Title Translation: 大智殿 , 祭坛
- Period: Ming, c. 1444 C.E.
- Project: Beijing Zhihua Temple
- Work Description: The Dazhi Hall is located east of the Zhihua Hall and opposite from the Sutra Hall. The hall initially enshrined three bodhisattvas, Avolokiteśvara attended by Mañjuśrī and Samantabhadra on an altar. Though different in function and interior layout, the Dazhi Hall has the exact measurements and structure as the Sutra Hall, its counterpart across from the courtyard.
1444
Lower Guangsheng Temple, front hall (or former Buddha's Temple), mural and wooden statues
- Title Translation: 广胜下寺 , 前殿(或前佛寺)、壁画和木雕像
- Period: Eastern Han, Yuan, 147 C.E., 1271-1368 C.E.
- Project: Guangsheng Temple Murals
- Work Description: The lower temple is made up by the temple gate, front hall, back hall (or Daxiong Temple), the buttress hall and other buildings that were all built in the Yuan Dynasty. The temple gate is rather high. It is 3-bay wide and 3-bay long with single-eaved gable and hip roof. Canopies added to the front and back eaves make it like a pavilion with double eaves. The front hall is five-bay wide with only two pillars supporting the whole hall. The back hall (or Daxiong Temple) was built in the second year (1309) of the Zhida reign of the Yuan Dynasty. It is 7-bay wide with 9 purlins, 8 rafters and a single-eaved overhanging gable roof. The main statues in the hall are Amitabha Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, Manjusri Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. They were all made in the Yuan Dynasty. Murals were once covered on the walls, but they were removed and shipped to the United States in 1928. The mural on the south wall recorded the performance of Yuan Drama. It is rare reference material for study on Chinese dramas.
147
1368
1368
Lower Guangsheng Temple, back hall (or Daxiong Bodian), interior
- Title Translation: 广胜下寺 , 后殿 (即大雄宝殿), 内部
- Period: Eastern Han, Yuan, 147 C.E., 1271-1368 C.E.
- Project: Guangsheng Temple Murals
- Work Description: The lower temple is made up by the temple gate, front hall, back hall (or Daxiong Temple), the buttress hall and other buildings that were all built in the Yuan Dynasty. The temple gate is rather high. It is 3-bay wide and 3-bay long with single-eaved gable and hip roof. Canopies added to the front and back eaves make it like a pavilion with double eaves. The front hall is five-bay wide with only two pillars supporting the whole hall. The back hall (or Daxiong Temple) was built in the second year (1309) of the Zhida reign of the Yuan Dynasty. It is 7-bay wide with 9 purlins, 8 rafters and a single-eaved overhanging gable roof. The main statues in the hall are Amitabha Buddha, Sakyamuni Buddha, Bhaisajyaguru Buddha, Manjusri Bodhisattva, and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva. They were all made in the Yuan Dynasty. Murals were once covered on the walls, but they were removed and shipped to the United States in 1928. The mural on the south wall recorded the performance of Yuan Drama. It is rare reference material for study on Chinese dramas.
147
1368
1368