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 Bodhisattva Maitreya
Not on view
This Maitreya belongs to an international Mahayana Buddhist style that emerged in the late seventh century, centered in peninsular Thailand. He is identified as the messianic savior by the miniature stupa secreted in his towering chignon. The sculptural finesse of the work is astonishing—the face is sensitively modeled, planes are subtly nuanced, and the spectacularly elaborated hair is braided and bound into a topknot. The style is indebted to new waves of Buddha imagery that were being disseminated to Southeast Asia from northern India, especially from the influencial workshops of the Sarnath school.
cat. no. 136
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