Creative Commons License
Creative Commons License
Standing Avalokitesvara
(Southeast Asia )
This hollow cast image is of a bodhisattava. The presence of Amitabha seated in the headdress of this sculpture identifies the bodhisattva as Avalokiteshvara. Amitabha is a Buddha who lives in the realm of bliss called the Western Paradise. The antelope skin that falls over Avalokiteshvara’s left shoulder is something the bodhisattva wears when in the guise of an ascetic, someone who has renounced the world. This sculpture itself is likely to have been an early import to Southeast Asia from Sri Lanka.
Inscription
Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.
Nakhon Kasem, Bangkok; Alexander B. Griswold, Monkton, August 1949, by purchase [presented to the Breezewood Foundation, December 1985, inv. no. 858]; Walters Art Museum, 1992, by bequest.
Exhibitions
| 1995 | Unearthly Elegance: Buddhist Art from the Griswold Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. |
Geographies
Sri Lanka (Place of Origin)
Measurements
9 1/16 in. (23 cm)
Credit Line
Bequest of A. B. Griswold, 1992
Accession Number
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.
54.2826