Buddha Giving the First Sermon (Dharmachakrapravartanamudra)

Arts of Asia

Pala period, late 10th/early 11th century

India
Bihar

This sculpture presents the historical Buddha Shakyamuni delivering his first sermon at the Deer Park in Sarnath, India, where he articulated his realization of the Four Noble Truths to the five ascetics who would become his first disciples. This episode, considered one of the Eight Great Events of the Buddha’s life, is iconographically indicated by his didactic hand gesture of dharmachakramudra, whereby the Buddha sets the chakra (wheel) of dharma (law) in motion. The two deer flanking a chakra on the sculpture’s plinth allude to this teaching. The paleography of the inscription preserved in the Buddha’s halo helps date the sculpture to the late tenth or early eleventh century.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Arts of Asia

Title: Buddha Giving the First Sermon (Dharmachakrapravartanamudra)
Place: Bihar (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.: 995 CE–1005
Medium: Black stone
Dimensions: 62.3 × 39 × 15.6 cm (24 1/2 × 15 5/16 × 6 1/8 in.)
Credit Line: Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf
Reference Number: 2019.728
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/148396/manifest.json

Susan L. Huntington and John C. Huntington, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th-12th centuries) and Its International Legacy (Seattle and London: Dayton Art Institute in association with University of Washington Press, 1990), 144–145, cat. 19.
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), 111 (ill.), 302, cat. 135.
Kathryn H. Selig Brown, Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art (New York: Katonah Museum of Art, 2005), 77.
Madhuvanti Ghose, “New Asian Galleries at The Art Institute of Chicago,” Orientations 42, no. 3 (Apr. 2011): 24–25, fig. 2.

Dayton Art Institute, Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th – 12th centuries) and Its International Legacy, Nov. 11, 1989–Jan. 14, 1990, cat. 19; Baltimore, Maryland, The Walters Art Gallery, Feb. 17–Apr. 15, 1990; The Newark Museum, May 22–Aug. 26, 1990; Chicago, IL, The David and Alfred Smart Gallery, University of Chicago, Oct. 9–Dec. 2, 1990.
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. 135.
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. no.
Milwaukee Art Museum, Apr. 27, 2001–May 15, 2003.
New York, Katonah Museum of Art, Eternal Presence: Handprints and Footprints in Buddhist Art, Oct. 17, 2004–Jan. 9, 2005; Honolulu Academy of Arts, Jan. 26–May 29, 2005); New York, Rubin Museum of Art, Jun. 14–Sep. 4, 2005.

James W. Alsdorf (1913–1990) and Marilynn B. Alsdorf (1925–2019), Winnetka and Chicago, IL, by Nov. 11, 1989 [Dayton 1989]; by descent to Marilynn B. Alsdorf, Chicago, 1990 [on long-term loan, Washington, D.C., Arthur Sackler Museum of Art, 1992–1996; on long-term loan at the Art Institute of Chicago, Sept. 11, 1996; 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, 2019.

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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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Buddha Giving the First Sermon (Dharmachakrapravartanamudra)

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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.