Buddha Shakyamuni and Adorants on Mount Meru
c. 700
Asia: India, State of Jammu and Kashmir
On View

This masterpiece of Indian metal sculpture is one of the most sumptuous Buddhist altarpieces to have survived from Kashmir. Buddha Shakyamuni sits in the meditation posture on a thick cushion covered with lavish carpets. Beneath him is a rocky formation divided into three realms—animal, human and celestial—from bottom to top. The probable intent is to represent the historical Buddha as a transcendental figure seated on the cosmic mountain Meru, which is considered to be the center of the universe.

Details

  • Title: Buddha Shakyamuni and Adorants on Mount Meru
  • Date: c. 700
  • Medium: Bronze with silver and copper inlay
  • Dimensions: 13-1/4 x 9-1/2 x 4-3/4 in. (33.7 x 24.1 x 12.1 cm)
  • Credit Line: The Norton Simon Foundation
  • Accession Number: F.1972.48.2.S
  • Copyright: © The Norton Simon Foundation

Object Information

Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure

  • Art Institute of Chicago, 2003-04-05 to 2003-08-17

In the Land of Snow: Buddhist Art of the Himalayas

  • Norton Simon Museum, 2014-03-28 to 2014-08-25

Painting and Sculpture from Nepal, Tibet and Northwest India

  • Norton Simon Museum, 1994-09-22 to 1997-06-01
  • Casey, Jane, Arts of Asia, no. 12 p. 110
  • Fisher, Robert E., Asian Art: Selections from the Norton Simon Museum, fig. 1 pp. 49-50
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Marg, fig. 15 p, 61, 67, 73
  • Knoke, Christine, Minerva, fig. 8 p. 28
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Journal of the Royal Society of Arts, 1973, fig. 5 pp. 731, 733
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Bronzes of Kashmir, 1975, no. 22 p. 92
  • Schroeder, Ulrich von, Indo-Tibetan Bronzes, 1981, pl. 6, no. 16A pp. 98, 118
  • Neven, A.; M. Postel and K. Mankodi, Antiquities of Himachal, 1985, fig. 104
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, American Collectors of Asian Art, 1986, fig. 15 pp. 125, 131, 137
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, The Great Tradition: Indian Bronze Masterpieces, 1988, fig. 4 p. 92
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Himalayas: An Aesthetic Adventure, 2003, fig. 3 (detail), no. 62 pp. 17, 104-105
  • Pal, Pratapaditya, Asian Art at the Norton Simon Museum, Volume 2: Art from the Himalayas & China, 2003, no. 2 pp. 13, 30-33, 34, 36, 44
  • Marg, 2004, fig. 4 p. 59
  • Rademacher, Cay, GEO EPOCHE: Das Magazin fur Geschichte, 2007, p. 30
  • Twist, Rebecca L., Patronage, Devotion and Politics: A Buddhological Study of the Patola Sahi Dynasty's Visual Record, 2010, Fig A.19 p. 272
  • Campbell, Sara, Collector Without Walls: Norton Simon and His Hunt for the Best, 2010, cat. 884 p. 348
  • Meher McArthur, Highlights of Buddhist Art at the Norton Simon Museum, 2018,
  • Various; (Cat. No. 10 by Christian Luczanits), Himalayan Art in 108 Objects, 2023, No. 10 pp. 64-67, p. 64 (ill.), cover
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