Plaque with Bodhisattva, Priest, and Buddhas
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.Since ancient times, Buddhist places of worship have been festooned with colorful and lustrous decorations alongside sculptures and painted icons to elicit a sense of wonder in devotees. Gilt bronze or painted clay plaques like these were used as tiles in some of the earliest Japanese Buddhist temple sites such as Tachibanadera in the ancient capital of Asuka. Their reflective, colorful surfaces might have lent a sense of otherworldliness to these sacred spaces.
Artwork Details
- 銅板押出菩薩半跏像及び比丘像
- Title: Plaque with Bodhisattva, Priest, and Buddhas
- Period: Asuka period (538–710)
- Date: 7th century
- Culture: Japan
- Medium: Copper with, traces of mercury gilding
- Dimensions: Plaque: 6 3/8 × 5 1/8 in. (16.2 × 13 cm)
Mount: 9 in. × 6 1/4 in. (22.9 × 15.9 cm) - Classification: Metalwork
- Credit Line: Lent by John C. Weber Collection
- Curatorial Department: Asian Art