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Samantabhadra

1100s

Medium: hanging scroll; ink and color on silk
Classification: Painting
Dimensions: Image: 114.8 x 55.1 cm (45 3/16 x 21 11/16 in.); Mounted: 208.6 x 75.4 cm (82 1/8 x 29 11/16 in.)
Culture: China, Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279)
Museum: Cleveland Museum of Art, Chinese Art
Credit line: Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund
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

About this work

In the last chapter of the Lotus Sutra, one of the principal Buddhist texts, the great Bodhisattva Samantabhadra is described advancing to earth, riding on a six-tusked elephant, and proclaiming himself protector of the faithful. More frequently, he is shown with Bodhisattva Manjusri as the attendants of Shakyamuni (the historical Buddha). This scroll is probably the left panel in a triptych (group of three paintings) portraying these deities.