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Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaguru)

ca. 700
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
The making of Buddhist images is considered an act of merit. Consequently, one of the earliest forms of printing was the use of woodblock stamps to ritually reproduce icons. In this fragment of a five-meter-long handscroll, images of the Buddha of Medicine have been impressed twenty-one times for each of the six monthly fasting days of the Buddhist calendar. Scrolls of this kind were made on behalf of a patron to cure illness or to prolong life.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Yaoshi qian fo
  • Title: Buddha of Medicine (Bhaisajyaguru)
  • Period: early Tang dynasty (618–907)
  • Date: ca. 700
  • Culture: China
  • Medium:

    Woodblock print; ink on paper

  • Dimensions: Image (b): 12 15/16 x 45 11/16 in. (32.9 x 116 cm)
  • Classification: Ceramics
  • Credit Line: On loan from the British Museum
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art