Harvard Art Museums > 1943.53.9: Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl 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"Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl , 1943.53.9,” Harvard Art Museums collections online, Dec 18, 2024, https://hvrd.art/o/204429. Reuse via IIIF Toggle Deep Zoom Mode Download This object does not yet have a description. Gallery Text Inspired by Indian religious practices — and by tales of the Buddha imprinting his shadow on a cave wall — Chinese adherents of Buddhism created elaborate cave temples at sites in north China from the fifth to twelfth centuries. Hewn into limestone or sandstone cliffs, they ranged in size from small grottoes of only a few square feet (which were typically used as private meditation spaces by monks) to massive temples featuring monumental sculptures. Interiors were embellished with murals and sculptures carved from the rock walls. In sponsoring such sites, social elites, including emperors and their families, displayed their piety, as well as their political ambition and power. The large Seated Buddha and five sculptural reliefs here come from Tianlongshan, near the city of Taiyuan in Shanxi Province. From the sixth through eighth centuries, approximately twenty-five caves were carved into the cliffs there. The caves had relief sculptures on each wall — often a buddha in a niche flanked by bodhisattvas and other devotional figures. Apsarases, angel-like beings that appear in celebration of auspicious events, decorated the ceilings. To increase their sense of lifelike presence and visibility in the dim cave light, they were brightly painted, as evidenced by the traces of pigment found on the Seated Buddha and others of these figures. Identification and Creation Object Number 1943.53.9 Title Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl Classification Sculpture Work Type relief, sculpture Date 534-550 Places Creation Place: East Asia, China, Shanxi province, Tianlongshan Period Eastern Wei, 534-550 Culture Chinese Persistent Link https://hvrd.art/o/204429 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 Sandstone; from Tianlongshan Cave 2, near Taiyuan, Shanxi province Dimensions H. 74.3 x W. 64.2 cm (29 1/4 x 25 1/4 in.) Provenance Recorded Ownership History Grenville L. Winthrop, New York (by 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 1943.53.9 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. Descriptions Description Flying divinity facing proper right with trailing scarves and holding a bowl in both hands. Low sandstone relief from the ceiling of cave 2 (south panel) at Tianlongshan, Shanxi province. Publication History Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, E. Benn (London, 1925), Pl. 212 Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century, E. Benn (London, 1925), p. 58 Csilla Felker and John Dennis, "Caves at Tien Lung Shan: A Technical Study of Pigments on Stone" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 1982), Unpublished, pp. 1-16 passim Tianlongshan Caves Project, website, Center for the Art of East Asia, The University of Chicago, accessed April 7, 2021, https://tls.uchicago.edu/single-sculpture/157 Exhibition History S426: Chinese Buddhist Cave 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 ReFrame Related Media 3D Model: Flying Apsaras Holding a Bowl 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
