Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Head of Meditating Buddha
Not on view
The Buddha in meditation was a favored subject in Mon Buddhist art. This fragment of a Buddha head is among the most beautiful to have survived. In all probability, this head belonged to a lifesize terracotta relief. The eyes appear closed, suggestive of deep meditation; the Dvaravati style is evident in the joined eyebrow, full lower lip, and bulbous treatment of the curls. Terracotta and stucco were favored materials for sculpting the narrative reliefs along the pradaksina path, which devotees followed in circumambulating the Buddha relics in each stupa.
cat. no. 118
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