Buddha Seated in Meditation

16th century

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 242

This majestic Buddha is one of the finest products of sixteenth-century Sri Lankan Buddhist art. The figure is seated on a lotus-vine pedestal, deep in meditation. Numerous auspicious marks (lakshana) on his body signify his Buddhahood. Convention dictates thirty-two mahapurusalakshana and eighty lesser marks, such as the forehead mark (urna), flame protuberance (ushnisha), extended earlobes and locks of hair, and lotuses on the hand and feet.

Artwork Details

Overview

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Buddha Seated in Meditation
Period: Divided Kingdoms period
Date: 16th century
Culture: Sri Lanka. western regions
Medium: Copper alloy with gilding
Dimensions: 19 3/16 × 14 3/16 × 7 7/8 in., 132 lb. (48.7 × 36 × 20 cm, 59.9 kg)
Classification: Sculpture
Credit Line: Purchase, Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund; Florence and Herbert Irving, Cynthia Hazen Polsky and Anne H. Bass Gifts, 2010
Object Number: 2010.67
Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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