Buddha Shakyamuni with Attendants

Arts of Asia

Kushan period, 2nd century

India
Uttar Pradesh, Mathura region

This stele epitomizes the distinctive style of the early Mathura school of Buddhist sculpture, characterized by its mottled red sandstone and such features as the Buddha’s twisted topknot, the diaphanous garment worn over one shoulder, and the supple modeling of his body. Here, the Buddha is portrayed seated in vajraparyanka (vajra posture) upon a simhasana (lion throne). He is flanked on either side by attendants bearing fly-whisks, while vidyadharas (celestials) hover overhead. The tree branches splayed out behind the Buddha’s aureole invoke his enlightenment under the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: Buddha Shakyamuni with Attendants
Place: Mathura (Object made in:)
Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.: 95 CE–205 CE
Medium: Sandstone
Dimensions: 35.9 × 26.4 × 8.6 cm (14 1/8 × 10 3/8 × 3 3/8 in.)
Credit Line: James W. and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection. Gift of Marilynn Alsdorf
Reference Number: 2021.243
IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world. Learn more.: https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/148394/manifest.json

Stanislaw J. Czuma with the assistance of Rekha Morris, Kushan Sculpture: Images from Early India (Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1984), 66.
Pratapaditya Pal, Light of Asia. Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art (Los Angeles: Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1984), 192, cat. 75.
Pratapaditya Pal (ed.), Indian Sculpture: A Catalogue of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art Collection (Los Angeles: LACMA/University of California, 1986), 1:181.
Pratapaditya Pal (ed.), A Pot–Pouri of Indian Art. (Bombay: Marg Publications, 1988), 4–5, figs. 3–4.
Milo Beach, The New Cambridge History of India: Mughal and Rajput Painting (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992), 107, cat. 77.
Pratapaditya Pal with contributions by Stephen Little, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection (Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago in association with Thames and Hudson, 1997), 86–7 (ill.), 293–94, cat. 100.
Woodman Taylor, “Portability and Practice: Valences of Early Buddhist Visual Language,” Orientations 28.7 (July/Aug. 1997): 38–41, fig. 1a.
Jerome M. Eisenberg, “Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Alsdorf Collection: A Collecting Odyssey,” Minerva 8:5 (Sept. /Oct. 1997): 15–18, fig. 1.
Rajeshwari Ghose, In the Footsteps of the Buddha: An Iconic Journey from India to China (Hong Kong: University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 1998), 171, figs. 21a and b, cat. 21.
Madhuvanti Ghose, The Origins and Early Development of Anthropomorphic Indian Iconography (PhD Dissertation, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, 2002), 259, 333 (ill.).

Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Light of Asia: Buddha Sakyamuni in Asian Art, Mar. 4–May 20, 1984, cat. 75; The Art Institute of Chicago, June 30–Aug. 26, 1984; The Brooklyn Museum, Nov. 1, 1984–Feb. 10, 1985.
Washington, DC, Arthur Sackler Museum of Art, Sculpture of South and Southeast Asia, Nov. 19, 1993 –July 11, 1996, no cat.
Art Institute of Chicago, A Collecting Odyssey: Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art from the James and Marilynn Alsdorf Collection, Aug. 2–Oct. 26, 1997, cat. 100.
Hong Kong, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, In the Footsteps of Buddha: An Iconic Journey from India to China, Sept. 25–Dec. 15, 1998, cat. 21.
Memphis, TN, The Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Realm of the Gods: Masterpieces of Indian Sculpture from The Art Institute of Chicago and The Alsdorf Collection, Apr. 30–July 23, 2000, no cat.

With John Siudmak, London, by Apr. 15, 1983 [this and the following according to receipt from John Siudmak, Apr. 15, 1983; copy in curatorial object file]; sold to James W. Alsdorf (1913–1990) and Marilynn B. Alsdorf (1925–2019), Winnetka and Chicago, IL, Apr. 15, 1983; by descent to Marilynn B. Alsdorf, Chicago, 1990 [on long-term loan, Washington, D.C., Arthur Sackler Museum of Art, 1992–96; publicly promised as a gift to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1997; signed a promised gift agreement for the work, 2002]; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 2021.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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Date Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

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IIIF Manifest The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.