Supports with Addorsed Figures
Unknown Artist
1400s
Medium
gilt bronze
Dimensions
33.5 × 9.5 × 8 cm
Classification
Sculpture
Department
Indian and Southeast Asian Art
Museum
Cleveland Museum of Art
Credit
Gift of Maxeen and John Flower in honor of Dr. Stanislaw Czuma
Accession Number
2011.144
About this artwork
These small pillars were part of the multitiered bases of stupas—sacred Buddhist monuments. The figures that faced toward the viewer are four-armed bodhisattvas—beings on the path to perfect enlightenment. The Tibetan syllable carved at the top of the moldings denotes the position where this piece belongs in the series of other small double-sided pillars. The figures on the opposite sides, facing the stupa and unseen by visitors, are figures of four-armed goddesses who make offerings of music or...