Standing Bodhisattva, probably Maitreya
Unknown Artist
7th–8th century
Medium
Silver alloy
Dimensions
H. 3 3/4 in. (9.5 cm)
Classification
Sculpture
Culture
Thailand (Buriram province, Prakhon Chai)
Department
Asian Art
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Evelyn Kossak, The Kronos Collections, 1995
Accession Number
1995.570.8
Tags
Art Historical Context
This exquisite Standing Bodhisattva, likely Maitreya—the future Buddha in Buddhist cosmology—stands as a rare from 7th–8th Thailand, specifically the Buriram province's Prakhon Chai region Crafted from silver alloy, this diminutive sculpture measures just 3/4 inches (9.5 cm) tall, suggesting it was a personal devotional object, perhaps carried by pilgrims or placed in a household shrine. Its graceful standing pose, with one hand possibly raised in a gesture of boon-granting (varada mudra), embodies the compassionate ideal of bodhisattvas: enlightened beings who postpone their own nirvana to a...