East Asian Art Buddha Made in Korea, AsiaUnified Silla Dynasty (668-935), 9th century Artist/maker unknown, Korean Gilded bronze Currently not on view 1963-181-210 The Louis E. Stern Collection, 1963 |
LabelThis figure of Amitabha Buddha (the Buddha of Infinite Light and ruler of the Western Paradise) has his right hand raised in the gesture of fearlessness and his left in the gesture of charity. His robes fall in stylized U-shaped folds, a symmetrical arrangement inspired by the style of earlier Indian representations of the Gupta dynasty (c. 4th to 6th century). Images of Amitabha Buddha were common in Korea during the Unified Silla dynasty as he was the main deity of Pure Land Buddhism, the predominant Mahayana Buddhist sect at that time. Worshipers who wished to be reborn in the Western Paradise would simply evoke his name. |
