Birth of the Buddha
Unknown Artist
800s
Medium
Black chlorite
Dimensions
46.4 × 27.3 × 11.4 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
John L. Severance Fund
Accession Number
1959.349
About this artwork
The historical Buddha known as Shakyamuni was born Prince Siddhartha around the end of the 400s BCE near the border of what is today India and Nepal. His mother, Queen Maya, was traveling from her husband’s capital to her family home to give birth, but the baby came early and was born in a grove of shala trees. The miraculous circumstances of his birth are related in a number of textual sources. They state that he emerged from her right side, so Queen Maya here is shown grasping the branch of a ...