Stele with Maitreya and Attendants
500
- Medium
- gray limestone
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- Overall: 94.6 x 54.6 cm (37 1/4 x 21 1/2 in.)
- Culture
- China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
- Credit line
- Gift of Severance and Greta Millikin
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Buddhist statue steles (zaoxiang bei) were commissioned and donated to be set in temples. The making of Buddhist images allowed for personal devotion and accumulation of merits, but the erection of a stele was also an act of piety or gratitude by individual donors. As indicated by the inscription on the reverse side of this stele, it was commissioned in 500 by a monk for his parents, family, and religious teachers.
