Buddhist altarpiece
date: label: Date
content: 597
label: Period
content: Sui dynasty
notes: label: Label
content: This Sui dynasty altarpiece carries an incised inscription on the base with a date of 597. The text does not identify which Buddha in the Buddhist pantheon is represented, but it provides the names of sixteen donors who contributed funds to sponsor the image. Some of the donors seem to have been women active in the Sui court.
label: Label
content: The central Buddha holds his right hand in the "fear not gesture" and his left hand is pictured in the "giving gesture." The Buddha wears monastic dress and looks elegantly modest, while the flanking bodhisattvas (enlightened beings) wear flower-strewn headdresses, long floating ribbons, and jewelled chains. All of the figures have a "peach-shaped" halo, each of which is inclinded slightly forward contributing to a sense of personal interaction.
label: Provenance
content: To 1914
label: Provenance
content: Worch et Cie, Paris, to 1914 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1914 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Worch et Cie in 1914 [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1920
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 501, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.
label: Provenance
content: [2] See note 1.
label: Provenance
content: [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Encountering the Buddha: Art and Practice Across Asia (October 14, 2017 to February 6, 2022)
label: Exhibition History
content: Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Special Exhibit for King and Queen of Nepal (April 26, 1960 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Buddhist Art (July 19, 1958 to April 26, 1960)
label: Exhibition History
content: Untitled Exhibition, Chinese Art, West Corridor, 1947 (January 8, 1947 to February 10, 1947)
label: Exhibition History
content: Stone Sculpture, Buddhist Bronze, and Chinese Painting (May 2, 1923 to February 25, 1956)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Worch et Cie (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: casting
label: Topic
content: gilding
label: Topic
content: metal
label: Topic
content: bronze
label: Topic
content: Buddhism
label: Topic
content: Buddha
label: Topic
content: bodhisattva
label: Topic
content: Sui dynasty (581 - 618)
label: Topic
content: lotus
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: abhaya mudra
label: Topic
content: varada mudra
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Charles Lang Freer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1914.21a-h
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Bronze with gilding
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (with stand): 32.1 x 14.1 cm (12 5/8 x 5 9/16 in)