Miniature Votive Stupa

AD 435

Maker Unknown

Chinese Art

Miniature Votive Stupa, AD 435. China, Gansu province, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534). Steatite; overall: 16.9 cm (6 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1990.84 There are trigrams, three horizontal lines, broken or continuous, above each of the eight bodhisattvas in the stupa's lower section.

Original Source

Maker/Artist: Maker Unknown
Classification: Sculpture
Formatted Medium: steatite
Medium: steatite
Dimensions: Overall: 16.9 cm (6 5/8 in.)
Inscribed: Translation: The middle registered is inscribed in in kaishu, regular, script calligraphy with an extract from the Ekottaragama sutra. The text includes the twelve links in the chain of existence (nidanas), said to be the object of Sakyamuni’s meditation on the night of his enlightenment, followed by a dedicatory inscription signed by four lay disciples, and an expressed hope that all sentient beings gain enlightenment.
Departments: Chinese Art
Accession Number: 1990.84
Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Exhibitions: Notable Acquisitions, Asian Autumn: New Objects/New Insights: Cleveland's Recent Chinese Acquisitions, Intimate Rituals and Personal Devotions: Spiritual Art Through the Ages, China through the Magnifying Glass: Masterpieces in Miniature and Detail
Rights Statement: CC0
Museum Location: 010 Focus Gallery