The bodhisattva Maitreya
Also titled De bodhisattva Maitreya
500 - 525
- Medium
- limestone
- Classification
- sculpture
- Dimensions
- height 46 cm x width 37.5 cm x depth 8 cm
- Museum
- Rijksmuseum
- Credit line
- On loan from the Royal Asian Art Society in The Netherlands (gift of C.T. Loo, 1938)
- Rights
- Public Domain Mark, 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
About this work
Maitreya, the Buddha of the Future, will appear during the following world cycle and rule an earthly paradise as successor to the Buddha. At present he is still in his heaven, awaiting his descent to earth. This figure comes from Longmen, a complex of Buddhist temples carved from the living rock. The fine stylization of the drapery and the facial features are typical of sculpture from this site.
