Standing Bodhisattva

early 8th century

This bodhisattva epitomizes the Tang dynasty’s elegant carving style, with his hips swaying to one side to create a relaxed yet dynamic stance (known by the western term contrapposto). Scholars believe that the figure came from the east wall of Cave 18 in Tianlongshan, a cave temple complex in China that was active from the mid-6th century onwards. Cave 18 is particularly important because the sculptures are well preserved, and it was sealed in recent years to protect what remains inside.

Sandstone

22 1/2 x 12 x 6"

Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection

34.64

Provenance: From left wall, Cave 18, Tianlongshan, Tai Gen Fu Shan Hsi, China [Yamanaka & Co., New York, to 1934]; purchased from gallery by Seattle Art Museum (Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection), March 6, 1934

Photo: Susan Cole

Now on view at the Asian Art Museum

Resources

Exhibition HistoryLos Angeles, California, Los Angeles County Museum, Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, 1957.

Portland, Oregon, Portland Art Museum, Gift to a City: Masterworks from the Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection in the Seattle Art Museum, Nov. 3 - 28, 1965.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, 50 Years: A Legacy of Asian Art, June 30, 1983 – May 30, 1984.

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Timeless Grandeur: Art from China, Apr. 25, 2002 - June 12, 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 ReferencesHandbook, Seattle Art Museum: Selected Works from the Permanent Collections, Seattle: Seattle Art Museum, 1951, p. 57 (b&w).

Arts of the T'ang Dynasty, exh. cat. Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum, 1957, p. 44, no. 35.

Art in Asia and the West. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Art, 1957, fig. p. 20.

"Sui and Tang dynasties of China." History of World Art. Kadokawa Co., no. 50, 2nd part (published in Japanese).

Trubner, Henry. "The Arts of the T'ang Dynasty." Ars Orientalis, vol. 3 (1959), pp. 147-152, pl. 4, fig. 6.

Gift to a City, exh. cat. Portland, OR: Portland Art Museum, 1965, cat. no. 27.

Kawai, Masatomo, Yasuhiro Nishioka, Yukiko Sirahara, editors. Luminous Jewels: Masterpieces of Asian Art From the Seattle Art Museum. The Yomiuri Shimbun, 2009, catalogue no. 63.

Waugh, Daniel C. "The Arts of China in Seattle." The Silk Road, vol. 12 (2014): pp. 137-152, reproduced p. 151, fig. 31.

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