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Seated Maitreya
- Title Translation: 弥勒坐像
- Period: Northern Wei, Tang, 386–534 C.E., 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
Longmen Binyang Caves, exterior and entrances
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳石窟 , 外部和入口
- Period: Northern Wei, Tang, 386–907 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.
Head of a Buddhist guardian (deva-king)
- Title Translation: 佛教护法神首领（天王）
- Period: Tang, 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
- Work Description: Chinese, Later than T'ang. Head of one of the four Guardians in high relief; part of left ear and topknot missing. Color: dark gray with yellow white patina and light earth encrustations. Wooden stand.
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin)
- Title Translation: 观世音菩萨（观音）
- Period: Tang, 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
- Work Description: The Bodhisattva stands with its body arched in a slight curve. The pointed headdress that appears in the high chignon is not specific enough to identify the particular Bodhisattva being represented. The torso is clothed in scarves and necklaces; a pleated dhoti falls from the waist. The Bodhisattva's right hand holds one end of a scarf against the dhoti; the left arm is raised at the elbow and the fingers of the hand are gracefully curved. There are traces of paint and pigment traces on the surface of the stone. The sculpture has been broken and subsequently repaired.
Head of a Buddha
- Title Translation: 佛头
- Period: Northern Wei, Tang, 386–534 C.E., 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
Guardian Lion
- Title Translation: 守护狮
- Period: Tang, 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
- Work Description: Provenance: Wanfo (Ten Thousand Buddha) Cave, Longmen Caves, Luoyang, China [see note 1]; about 1930, removed from Wanfo Cave by local stonemasons, including Wang Kui and sold, probably by Ma Longtu (antiques dealer), Luoyang, to a Beijing dealer [see note 2]. By 1931, C. T. Loo and Co., New York [see note 3]; 1940, sold by Loo to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 7, 1940) NOTES: [1] Photographed in situ in 1907 or 1908 and published by Edouard Chavannes, Mission Archeologique dans la Chine Septentrionale (Paris, 1909), no. 305, pl. CLXXXII. The companion lion is in the collection of the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. [2] According to Gong Dazhong, Longmen Shiku Yishu (The Art of Longmen Caves) (Beijing: Renmin Meishu Chubanshe, 2002), pp. 58-60. [3] Dealer C. T. Loo lent the lion to the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University from December 2, 1931 until September 1935.
Fragment: portion of torso and right forearm
- Title Translation: 碎片：躯干和右前臂的一部分
- Period: Northern Wei, Tang, 386–534 C.E., 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
Longmen Binyang Caves, exterior and entrances
- Title Translation: 龙门宾阳石窟 , 外部和入口
- Period: Northern Wei, Tang, 386–907 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).
Divine Guardian
- Title Translation: 守护神
- Period: Tang, 618–907 C.E.
- Project: Sculptures in Longmen Caves
- Work Description: Provenance: From the Longmen caves, Luoyang, Henan, China. 1936, exchanged with Yamanaka and Co., New York, by the MFA. (Accession Date: February 6, 1936)