The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Standing Bodhisattva

Standing Bodhisattva

1500s
Overall: 48.6 x 15.6 x 18.2 cm (19 1/8 x 6 1/8 x 7 3/16 in.)
Location: 236 Korean

Did You Know?

This Buddhist statue is missing its crown, which makes it hard to identify what deity it represents.

Description

This work demonstrates the enduring presence of Buddhism and its religious practice during the Joseon dynasty (1392–1910) even after Neo-Confucianism, a revised form of Confucianism that emphasized self-cultivation as a path to the formation of a harmonious society and state, became the state religion. Because of its missing crown, it is hard to identify what Buddhist deity this statue represents. But there is no doubt it still can be attributed to a bodhisattva (meaning “enlightened being”) for its iconographic attributes: elaborate jewelry and a lock of long hair.
  • ?–1997
    The Honorable Joseph P. Carroll and Roberta Carroll, MD, New York, NY
    1997
    (Joseph P. Carroll, Ltd., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1997–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, “Major Neoclassical Marble, Rare Korean Sculpture, Other Recent CMA Acquisitions Now on View,” April 16, 1997, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives. archive.org
    Cunningham, Michael R., "Land of Morning Calm", Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 37 no. 07, September 1997 Mentioned & reproduced: p. 4-5 archive.org
    Treasures from Korea: Arts and Culture of the Joseon Dynasty, 1392-1910. Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2014.
    Song, Unsok. "Korea's Joseon-Dynasty Buddhist Sculptures in American Museums." In Arts of Korea: Histories, Challenges, and Perspectives. Jason Steuber, and Allysa B. Peyton, eds., 218-243. Gainesville: University of Florida Press, 2018. Reproduced: p. 226
    Ch'a, Mi-rae, Kwi-suk An, Cleveland Museum of Art, and 국외소재문화재재단. The Korean Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Edited by An Min-hŭi. First edition, English ed. Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Series, 16. Seoul, Republic of Korea: Overseas Korean Cultural Heritage Foundation, 2021. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 146-147, no. 100
  • Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 236). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (May 9, 2016–present).
    Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 11, 2013-November 10, 2015).
  • {{cite web|title=Standing Bodhisattva|url=false|author=|year=1500s|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1997.11