Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Buddha Calling the Earth to Witness
Not on view
This low relief of the Buddha with one hand holding a monk’s begging bowl and the other making the earth-touching gesture (bhumisparsamudra) has the unadorned simplicity associated with the late Pyu style of central Myanmar. It is one of a series of identical Buddha images decorating the base of the Yahandagu stupa at Sri Ksetra, a late Pyu monument likely dating to the ninth century. This style of Buddha was transmitted to Bagan in the mid-eleventh century, following the progressive defeat and absorption of the Pyu and Mon territories into the Bagan state.
cat. no. 56