The Bodhisattva Mile (Sanskrit Maitreya), seated in "Pensive Pose"
date: label: Date
content: ca. 575
label: Period
content: Northern Qi dynasty
notes: label: Label
content: This sculpture of a bodhisattva, or enlightened being, probably represents the Buddha of the Future (Maitreya in the Indian language Sanskrit) while he was waiting to be reborn into the world as a Buddha. Maitreya waits in heaven meditating beneath a Dragon Tree, which Chinese sculptors typically interpreted to be a ginkgo, like the tree here. The depiction of children emerging from lotuses in a pond on the base of this sculpture is a rare detail on an image of Maitreya.
label: Provenance
content: To 1911
label: Provenance
content: Ta Ge Shang, Beijing, to 1911 [1]
label: Provenance
content: From 1911 to 1919
label: Provenance
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Ta Ge Shang in 1911 [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. 308, pg. 76, 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: Promise of Paradise (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)
label: Exhibition History
content: Early Chinese Pottery and Scultpure, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1916 (March 6 to October 15, 1916)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Ta Ge Shang (C.L. Freer source)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)
place: label: Origin
content: China
topic: label: Topic
content: stone
label: Topic
content: Buddhism
label: Topic
content: Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577)
label: Topic
content: child
label: Topic
content: lotus
label: Topic
content: Maitreya Buddha
label: Topic
content: meditation
label: Topic
content: ushnisha
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: halo
label: Topic
content: reincarnation
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: F1911.411
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Marble with traces of pigment and gesso
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D: 33 x 17.5 x 15.4 cm (13 x 6 7/8 x 6 1/16 in)