Western Paradise of the Buddha Amitabha
date: label: Date
content: 550-577
label: Period
content: Northern Qi dynasty
notes: label: Description
content: High relief carving of Western Paradise. Amitabha presides over a lotus pond that contains flowers opening to reveal newborn souls. Numerous deities and celestial attendants fill in the tableau.
label: Label
content: The Buddha of Infinite Light (Sanskrit, Amitabha), is lord of the Pure Land called the Western Paradise. Devotees believe that absolute faith in Amitabha entitles a person to be reborn in that paradise. In this mural, Amitabha presides over a pond and welcomes newly reborn souls who emerge from within lotus blossoms. This mural is among the earliest known depictions of the Western Paradise in Chinese art. It is from the Southern Xiangtangshan Buddhist cave-temple site, Cave 2. The Xiangtangshan caves were located close to the city of Ye, the capital of the Northern Qi dynasty. Their carving was an imperially sponsored project. A related object in the Freer collection is F1921.1.
label: Provenance
content: Before 1920
label: Provenance
content: Removed from Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan, Fengfeng, Handan Municipality, Hebei Province by unknown party [1]
label: Provenance
content: By 1920 to 1921
label: Provenance
content: Lai-Yuan & Company, New York, Pekin, Shanghai, and Paris acquired from an unknown source [2]
label: Provenance
content: From 1921
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art purchased from Lai-Yuan & Co. in installments, the first of which was issued in May 1921 [3]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] In the very early in the 20th century, the Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan suffered extensive damage and theft. The reliefs were removed from Cave 2 of the Southern group prior to 1920 when the Japanese team of Tokiwa and Sekino surveyed the site. See Shina Bukkyo Shiseki, Tokyo, 1927, vol. 3, pp. 53 ff., the two reliefs are not mentioned at all. J. Keith Wilson and Daisy Yiyou Wang outline when figures and fragments were removed from Xiangtangshan in “The Early-Twentieth-Century ‘Discovery’ of the Xiangtangshan Caves” in Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan (Smart Museum of Art. Chicago IL with Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington DC, 2010), 125-126.
label: Provenance
content: [2] Lai-Yuan & Company, New York had this object and another large relief carving (F1921.1) in their possession in October 1920, see: Letter from Charles D. Walcott, Secretary of Smithsonian to Colonel Frank J. Hecker of Detroit, February 15, 1921, copy in object file. On November 22, 1920, Lai-Yuan & Company offered these pieces to the nascent Freer Galley of Art when they sent a letter quoting prices, see letters unsigned (likely from Katherine N. Rhoades) to Y.Z. Li, November 24 and December 8, 1920, copies in file. Lai-Yuan and company describes these objects as “Two Huge Archaic Stone Slabs of Norther Wei Dynasty,” see object descriptions, copy in object file.
label: Provenance
content: [3] On March 21, 1921, Lai-Yuan & Company sent this object, F1921.1, and F1921.3 to the Freer Gallery of Art via railroad. The objects arrived on March 29, however, the two stone relief sculptures, F1921.1 & F1921.2, were damaged. Lai-Yuan & Company completed repairs on these objects in November 1922 (for entire exchange regarding damage and repair, see correspondence in object file).
label: Provenance
content: The Freer Gallery of Art paid for the objects in instalments, the first of which was issued in May 1921 and the final on January 10, 1922, see letter from C. T. Loo to Miss. K. N. Roades, May 4, 1921 and unsigned letter (likely from Dr. Lodge) to “Gentlemen,” Lai-Yuan & Company, January 10, 1922, copies in object file.
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: Exhibition History
content: Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art—Stone Sculpture (September 1, 1979 to March 14, 1982)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Exhibition History
content: Centennial Exhibition, Gallery 17 (November 17, 1955 to January 1, 1963)
label: Exhibition History
content: Stone Sculpture, Gallery 17, 1923 (May 2, 1923 to November 17, 1955)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Lai-Yuan & Company (ca. 1915-April 1921)
place: label: Origin
content: southern Xiangtangshan, Cave 2, Hebei province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: stone
label: Topic
content: Buddhism
label: Topic
content: tree
label: Topic
content: bodhisattva
label: Topic
content: relief seal
label: Topic
content: Avalokiteshvara
label: Topic
content: Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577)
label: Topic
content: lotus
label: Topic
content: Amitabha Buddha
label: Topic
content: meditation
label: Topic
content: temple
label: Topic
content: sutra
label: Topic
content: cave
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: throne
label: Topic
content: Mahasthamaprapta
label: Topic
content: abhaya mudra
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
label: Topic
content: Pure Land
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: Purchase — Charles Lang Freer Endowment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1921.2
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: 159.3 x 334.5 cm (62 11/16 x 131 11/16 in)