Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl: in sala — Harvard Art Museums

Inspired by Indian religious practices — and by tales of the Buddha imprinting his shadow on a cave wall — Chinese adherents of Buddhism created elaborate cave temples at sites in north China from the fifth to twelfth centuries. Hewn into limestone or sandstone cliffs, they ranged in size from small grottoes of only a few square feet (which were typically used as private meditation spaces by monks) to massive temples featuring monumental sculptures. Interiors were embellished with murals and sculptures carved from the rock walls. In sponsoring such sites, social elites, including emperors and their families, displayed their piety, as well as their political ambition and power.

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The large Seated Buddha and five sculptural reliefs here come from Tianlongshan, near the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. From the sixth through eighth centuries, approximately twenty-five caves were carved into the cliffs there. The caves had relief sculptures on each wall — often a buddha in a niche flanked by bodhisattvas and other devotional figures. Apsarases, angel-like beings that appear in celebration of auspicious events, decorated the ceilings. To increase their sense of lifelike presence and visibility in the dim cave light, they were brightly painted, as evidenced by the traces of pigment found on the Seated Buddha and others of these figures.

Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl

Sì, riceve visite

Sulla scultura

Scheda

Nella stessa sala · Gallery 1610, floor 1, Buddhist Sculpture, Harvard Art Museums

In catalogo

Fonti

Standing Buddha with Right Hand Lowered and with Left Hand Raised, late 7th - early 8th century

Seated Buddha (probably Shakyamuni), early 8th century

Crowned, Pensive Bodhisattva, Probably Mirŭk Posal (Bodhisattva Maitreya), Seated with the Left Leg Pendant, the Right Ankle Resting on the Left Knee, the Left foot Resting on a Lotus Blossom, the Right Hand Supporting the Chin, probably Silla Kingdom, late 6th-early 7th century

Standing Buddha, second half 6th - early 7th century

Buddha at Birth (Tanjō Butsu), 7th century

Buddhist Guardian Figure (Dvarapala), 7th century

Crowned Bodhisattva, Probably Taeseji Posal (Bodhisattva Mahasthamaprapta), Standing on a Heptagonal, Double-Lotus Base, the Bodhisattva's Right Hand Raised, the Left Hand Lowered, first half 7th century

Seated Buddha Shakyamuni, the Right Hand in Abhaya Mudra, the Left Hand Holding a Jewel, late 6th century