Unknown
9-11/16 x 6-13/16 x 2-3/4 in.
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Miller
Asian Art (Chinese and other Asian)
Mr. and Mrs. Charles B. Miller; given to the Indianapolis Museum of Art in 1983.
From the 8th through the 12th centuries, Indian Buddhism reached an apogee under the Pala kings and their successors in the regions of Bihar, western Bengal, and Bangladesh. Monks and pilgrims from lands as distant as China and Burma came there to study. Buddhist art of this period first flourished in Magadha, the homeland of Sakyamuni in southern Bihar, and gradually art production centers arose further eastward.
A huge corpus of sculpture survives from the period. Most common are stelae like this example, which may have been made for placement in a decorative niche on a building or as the main object of worship in a shrine. The mudra (gesture) is called dharma-chakra (Wheel of the Law) and signifies the Buddha's teaching of the path to enlightenment.
Metadata about the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection comes from Newfields’ records and research. In some cases, information may be incomplete and research is ongoing. Newfields’ goal is to have as up-to-date metadata as possible, therefore, this information is subject to change. Newfields collections’ metadata is available under a Creative Commons Zero (CC0) waiver, which allows for re-use without legal restrictions.
Artworks that appear in the image file(s) above may be in copyright or have other legal and/or cultural restrictions to their use. For clarity, Newfields does not claim copyright to the image files created by Newfields of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Newfields makes every effort to ascertain the copyright status of artworks in the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s collection. Please refer to the RightsStatements.org statement above for information about the current copyright status of the artwork. Additionally, some artworks may include Local Context’s Notices or Labels that attribute cultural authority of the artwork’s heritage and data.
Additional information about Newfields’ reproduction guidelines can be found in the Licensing Resources.
4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA 46208-3326 | 317-923-1331
Copyright © 2024 Newfields. All rights reserved.
This project was made possible in part by the Institute of Museum and Library Services [MA-251861-OMS-22].