The 77 Artworks created around 1100

Emphasizing her role as destroyer of corruption, the goddess Kurukulla is surrounded by a halo of flame and dances on a corpse. Like so many of the aggressive deities that emerged in the esoteric tradition, Kurukulla is understood to be an emanation of one of the Tathagatas—in this case, the calm ce...

Like

 

Mounted in the apse from Fuentidueña, this fresco originally came from a different site, the church of the Virgin near Tredòs, nestled in the Pyrenees near the border between Spain and France. Despite its remote location, the church occupied a strategic position in the mountains, at the head of the ...

Like

 

This sophisticated ivorywork offers an insight into the court culture of the eastern Mediterranean lands. The four animal-combat motifs on the vertical panels – eagles or lions attacking gazelles – are symbols of princely power and thus also refer to the courtly milieu from which the other images ar...

Like

 

Founded in North China by semi-nomadic Khitans, the Liao dynasty (907-1125) produced a large number of superb gold and silver wares using traditional Chinese metalworking and gilding techniques. Unlike traditional Chinese burial customs, the Liao often used gold or gilt bronze funerary masks in buri...

Like

 

Tara, a bodhisattva of compassion and protection, is shown dispensing boons to the surrounding devotees, as indicated by her lower hand held in varada mudra. From the tips of her fingers she drips nectar into the mouth of the hungry ghost (preta) who sits below, his belly swollen because of starvati...

Like

 

About the ArtistMahavihara MasterActive in the early 12th century, in BengalThis master painter of the Pala-era Buddhist monastic tradition is known from one extant palm-leaf manuscript, now shared between New York and Lhasa. The illustrated manuscript is a deluxe edition of the Ashtasahasrika Prajn...

Like

 

As in later periods of China’s history, aristocrats of the Shang dynasty (sixteenth to eleventh century B.C.) practiced ancestor worship, commissioning sumptuous cast bronze vessels as containers for ceremonial offerings of food and wine to the dead. In accordance with such rites, a variety of costl...

Like

 

Luohans or Arhats are disciples of Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha. They are the Buddhist equivalent of the original disciples of Jesus and occupy a high place in their spiritual appeal to the masses of worshippers. In China, depictions of Luohans in painting and sculpture had become popular since...

Like

 

Designed to foretell destiny and to help overcome the influence of unfavorable stellar configurations, the rituals of Esoteric Buddhism, imported from India and combined with native Daoism, played an indispensable role in the religious life of China. Rituals dedicated to stars were also introduced t...

Like

Buy

On gold-flecked mica paper, a calligrapher well practiced in writing kana, the Japanese phonetic writing system, has delicately transcribed two ancient court poems on the perennially relevant theme of Japanese palace gossip about affairs of the heart. The handling of the brush is graceful but firm; ...

Like

 

Illustrations and Explanations of the Three Jewels was originally compiled in 984 by the courtier-poet Minamoto no Tamenori as an introductory guide to Buddhism. The “Three Jewels” of Buddhism comprise the Buddha, the Teachings, and the Clergy, and the book was correspondingly created in three volum...

Like

Buy

Kujaku Myoo (Skt. Mahamayuri vidyaraja) is the deified form of a peacock that eats poisonous snakes and insects. He is represented here in compassionate form, an aspect unusual for Radiant Wisdom Kings (Skt. Vidyaraja, J. Myoo). Kujaku Myoo is the principal deity of an esoteric Buddhist ritual based...

Like

 

Lavishly illustrated Perfection of Wisdom texts are understood to contain the totality of Buddhist ideology. Often they were not read but instead were placed on altars so they could be venerated almost like images. This well-preserved Indian palm-leaf manuscript probably made its way to Tibet, where...

Like

 

The Yaozhou kilns in Shaanxi province perpetuated the green-glazed stoneware tradition of northern China. They did so under the influence of earlier glazed wares produced in southern China during the late Tang dynasty and the Five Dynasties (ninth and tenth centuries). The Art Museum’s delicately po...

Like