Buddha with Attendants on Mythical Animal
Dvaravati period, 7th‒8th century
- Medium
- Sandstone
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 43.5 × 32.3 × 14 cm (17 1/8 × 12 3/4 × 5 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- Thailand
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Marian and Samuel Klasstorner Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its subject is for older viewers (war, death, the Passion, drink or the like). How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This distinctive composition belongs to the early culture of Dvaravati, which flourished in what is now Thailand during the 7th and 8th centuries. Both Hinduism and Buddhism were practiced in the region, which was heavily influenced by India. The work features a Buddha standing on a lotus pedestal atop a mythical winged and horned creature. The central figure is flanked by two attendants with bare chests and wearing elaborate hairstyles and jewelry. This type of composition may have been attached to a larger stone carving of a “wheel of the law” (dharmachakra) symbolizing the essence of the Buddhist teachings.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
