Amitabha
Unknown Artist
mid-1000s
Medium
gilt bronze
Dimensions
h. 23 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Chinese Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
Accession Number
1942.1082
About this artwork
This delicately crafted statue of Amitabha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, bears testimony to the flowering of Buddhist art under the Liao Empire established by the Khitans, a nomadic Mongolian people, after the Tang persecution of Buddhists in 845. The Liao rulers were devout Buddhists who commissioned substantial religious projects. Liao Buddhist artifacts reflecting close ties to the Tang traditions were likely executed by displaced or enslaved artisans as a result of the Khitan conquest of no...