- Gallery Text
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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
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- Object Number
- 1943.53.82
- Title
- Kneeling Apsaras Playing a Drum
- 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/204075
- Location
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Level 1, Room 1610, Buddhist Sculpture, Buddhism and Early East Asian Buddhist Art
View this object's location on our interactive map - Physical Descriptions
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- Medium
- Gilt bronze
- Dimensions
- H. 9.0 x W. 6.0 x D. 3.0 cm (3 9/16 x 2 3/8 x 1 3/16 in.)
- Provenance
- [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
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- Credit Line
- Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
- Accession Year
- 1943
- Object Number
- 1943.53.82
- Division
- Asian and Mediterranean Art
- Contact
- am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
- 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
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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
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S425a: Chinese Gilt Bronze Sculpture, 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
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Google Art Project
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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