Head of a Buddha

Datefirst half of 9th century

Object number53.70

Photo CreditPhoto: Paul Macapia

Exhibition HistorySan Francisco, California, San Francisco Museum of Art, Art in Asia and the West, 1957. Seattle, Washington, Seattle World's Fair, Fine Arts Pavillion, Art of the Ancient East, 1962. New York, New York, Asia House Gallery, The Evolution of the Buddha Image, 1963. Vancouver, British Columbia, Vancouver Art Gallery, Distant Reverence: Buddhist Sculpture from the Seattle Art Museum, Aug. 16 - Oct. 22, 1989. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Discovering Buddhist Art - Seeking the Sublime, July 9, 2003 - June 3, 2005. Tokyo, Japan, Suntory Museum of Art, Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum, July 25 - Sept. 6, 2009 (Kobe, Japan, Kobe City Museum, Sept. 19 - Dec. 6, 2009; Kofu, Japan, Yamanashi Prefectural Museum of Art, Dec. 23, 2009 - Feb. 28, 2010; Atami, Japan, MOA Museum of Art, Mar. 13 - May 9, 2010; Fukuoka, Japan, Fukuoka Art Museum, May 23 - July 19, 2010). Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Luminous: The Art of Asia, Oct. 13, 2011 - Jan. 8, 2012. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Asian Art Museum, Boundless: Stories of Asian Art, Feb. 8, 2020 - ongoing.Published ReferencesKawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors, "Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum", 2009, The Yomiuri Shimbun, catalogue number 96. Foong, Ping, Xiaojin Wu, and Darielle Mason. "An Asian Art Museum Transformed." Orientations vol. 51, no. 3 (May/June 2020): p. 58, reproduced fig. 18 (installation view).

Credit LineGift of Mrs. John C. Atwood, Jr.

Dimensions14 1/2 x 10 x 12"

MediumAndesite (volcanic stone)