Head of the disciple Ananda
date: label: Date
content: 550-577
label: Period
content: Northern Qi dynasty
notes: label: Label
content: This smooth-shaven young monk with compassionate expression most likely represents Ananda, Shakyamuni Buddha's young disciple. The head is almost life-size and would have belonged to an impressive, high-relief sculpture flanking an image of the Buddha in one of China's cave-temples. When Buddhist sculptures left China in the early twentieth century, their original site was often unrecorded. Therefore, scholars are still trying to determine the origin of some sculptures. Based on style, it seems likely that this head came from one of the seventh-century, Tang-dynasty caves at Longmen, a large cave-temple complex near Luoyang, Henan Province. Some scholars see a greater similarity to the sculpture at Xiangtangshan, the Northern Qi site located in present-day Handan Municipality, Hebei Province. Further research is needed.
label: Provenance
content: To 1913
label: Provenance
content: Yamanaka & Company, New York to 1913 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1913 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Yamanaka & Company, New York in 1913 [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 Miscellaneous List, S.I. 477, 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: Promise of Paradise (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Promise of Paradise: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (December 1, 2012 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan (February 26, 2011 to January 6, 2013)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Yamanaka and Co. 山中商会 (1917-1965) (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: northern Xiangtangshan, South Cave, Fengfeng, Hebei province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: stone
label: Topic
content: Buddhism
label: Topic
content: relief seal
label: Topic
content: Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577)
label: Topic
content: temple
label: Topic
content: cave
label: Topic
content: disciple
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Ananda
label: Topic
content: monk
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Charles Lang Freer collection
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 17: Promise of Paradise
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: F1913.134
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Limestone with traces of pigment
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 32.1 x 23.2 x 18.8 cm (12 5/8 x 9 1/8 x 7 3/8 in)