Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Bodhisattva, probably Maitreya, Seated in Royal Ease
Not on view
This bronze ranks foremost in the small corpus of late Pyu metal Buddhist icons. It depicts a bodhisattva, likely the Buddha of the Future, Maitreya, seated in royal ease (rajalilasana). He wears an elaborate diadem and crown festooned with hanging garlands of jewels and pearls; the cylindrical form at the summit is likely intended to represent a stupa, Maitreya’s identifier. The statue’s discovery at Bagan is probably a legacy of the Burmese conquest of the southern Pyu cities and the transfer of much Pyu Buddhist culture to the new capital.
cat. no. 145
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