# Ascetic Holding a Skull

- Date: c. 500 CE
- Medium: gilt bronze
- Classification: Sculpture
- Dimensions: Overall: 19.4 cm (7 5/8 in.); Figure: 18.1 cm (7 1/8 in.)
- Culture: China, Northern Wei dynasty (386-534)
- Credit line: John L. Severance Fund
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/1980.25)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1980.25/1980.25_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

The figure holding the skull has been identified as Mrgasirsa, who sought Buddha’s teaching on how to determine the karma and transmigration of the arhats. Mrgasirsa appears with Vasistha in some of the wall paintings of the Mogao grottoes in Dunhuang.