Harvard Art Museums > 1943.53.85: Kneeling Apsaras Playing a Lute Sculpture Collections Search Exit Deep Zoom Mode Zoom Out Zoom In Reset Zoom Full Screen Add to Collection Order Image Copy Link Copy Citation Citation"Kneeling Apsaras Playing a Lute , 1943.53.85,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 22, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/203528. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download The gilt bronze sculpture is of a person kneeling on a flower with a round arch above them. Their arms hold a lute in front of their torso, their hands on the strings. There is little wear. Gallery Text Merchants trading in Silk Road goods, South and Central Asian Buddhist proselytizers, and pilgrims who had traveled to India to study Buddhism at its source brought countless paintings, scriptures, and small bronze sculptures to China and Tibet. These later served as the inspirations for works commissioned by local patrons. Few early Chinese and Tibetan bronze sculptures, and even fewer Indian prototypes, survive, as later generations melted them down to make coins, weapons, or new icons. The fine statues on display here may have been objects of devotion that were set in portable shrines, like the Korean example in the case to the right, for worship in lay people’s homes. Identification and Creation Object Number 1943.53.85 Title Kneeling Apsaras Playing a Lute Classification Sculpture Work Type sculpture, figurine Date first half 6th century Places Creation Place: East Asia, China Period Northern Wei (386-534) or Eastern Wei (534-550) period Culture Chinese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/203528 Location Location Level 1, Room 1610, Buddhist Sculpture, Buddhism and Early East Asian Buddhist Art View this object's location on our interactive map Physical Descriptions Medium Gilt bronze Dimensions H. 12.0 x W. 8.5 x D. 2.6 cm (4 3/4 x 3 3/8 x 1 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History [Yamanaka & Co., New York, March 2, 1932] sold; to Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (1932-1943), bequest; to Fogg Art Museum, 1943. Acquisition and Rights Credit Line Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop Accession Year 1943 Object Number 1943.53.85 Division Asian and Mediterranean Art Contact am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu Permissions THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS. The Harvard Art Museums encourage the use of images found on this website for personal, noncommercial use, including educational and scholarly purposes. To request a higher resolution file of this image, please submit an online request. Publication History W. Chie Ishibashi, "East Asian Buddhist Bronzes: A Comparative Analytical Study and a Preliminary Report" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, August 1977), Unpublished, passim Exhibition History S425a: Chinese Gilt Bronze Sculpture, Harvard University Art Museums, Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 10/20/1985 - 04/30/2008 Re-View: S228-230 Arts of Asia, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Cambridge, 05/31/2008 - 06/01/2013 32Q: 1610 Buddhist Art I, Harvard Art Museums, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050 Subjects and Contexts Google Art Project Verification Level This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
