Maitreya is the only divinity in Buddhism revered as both a bodhisattva and a Buddha. Slated as the next being to achieve enlightenment, he exists on the verge of Buddhahood, his bodhisattva’s vows completed and the promise of enlightenment assured. Devotion to Maitreya was widespread in China in the late fifth and sixth centuries. This complex assembly shows Maitreya emerging from a halo of flames as he descends to earth to rescue the devout.
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Artwork Details
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北魏 鎏金青銅彌勒佛像
Title:Buddha Maitreya (Mile) altarpiece
Period:Northern Wei dynasty (386–534)
Date:undated，ca. 525–30
Culture:China
Medium:Gilt bronze
Dimensions:H. 23 1/4 in. (59.1 cm); W. 15 in. (38.1 cm); D. 7 1/2 in. (19.1 cm)
Classification:Sculpture
Credit Line:Rogers Fund, 1938
Object Number:38.158.2a–g
Abby Aldrich Rockefeller , New York, (until 1938; sold to MMA)
Nara National Museum. "Nihon Bukkyō bijutsu no genryū," April 29, 1978–June 11, 1978.
New York. China Institute in America. "Treasures from the Metropolitan Museum," October 24, 1979–January 27, 1980.
Sydney. Art Gallery of New South Wales. "Buddha: Transcending Space and Time," November 10, 2001–February 24, 2002.
Nara National Museum. "Hōryū-ji: The Dawn of Buddhist Art," April 24, 2004–June 13, 2004.
New York. Asia Society. "A Passion for Asia: The Rockefeller Family Collects," February 23, 2006–September 3, 2006.
London. Royal Academy of Arts. "Bronze," September 15, 2012–December 9, 2012.
Seoul. National Museum of Korea. "Masterpieces of Early Buddhist Sculpture," September 24, 2015–November 15, 2015.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Another World Lies Beyond: Chinese Art and the Divine," August 24, 2019–January 5, 2020.
Priest, Alan. Chinese Sculpture in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1944, p. 29, cat. no. 19, figs. XXXIII–XXXVI.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Art Treasures of the Metropolitan: A Selection from the European and Asiatic Collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Ar. New York: H. N. Abrams, 1952, p. 238, fig. 189.
Asia Society. A Passion for Asia: The Rockefeller Legacy: A Publication in Celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Asia Society. Exh. cat. New York: Asia Society in association with Hudson Hills Press, 2006, p. 65.
Ekserdjian, David, ed. Bronze. Exh. cat. London: Royal Academy of Arts, 2012, p. 262, cat. no. 50.
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