id:			111505
accession number:	1929.983
share license status:	CC0
url:			https://clevelandart.org/art/1929.983
updated:		2023-03-04 09:29:45.164000

Section of a Dharani Pillar, 618–907. China, Tang dynasty (618-907). Limestone; overall: 50.2 x 40.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 7/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1929.983

title:				Section of a Dharani Pillar
title in original language:	
series:				
series in original language:	
creation date:			618–907
creation date earliest:		618
creation date latest:		907
current location:		241C Chinese Buddhist Sculptures
creditline:			Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
copyright:			

---

culture:	China, Tang dynasty (618-907)
technique:	limestone
department:	Chinese Art
collection:	China - Tang Dynasty
type:		Sculpture
find spot:	
catalogue raisonne: 

---

CREATORS

---

measurements: Overall: 50.2 x 40.4 cm (19 3/4 x 15 7/8 in.)
state of the work:	
edition of the work: 	

support materials:


inscriptions:

---

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

---

LEGACY EXHIBITIONS

---

PROVENANCE

	(Yamanaka and Company, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
	date: ?–1929
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


	The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
	date: 1929–
	footnotes: 	
	citations: 	


---

fun fact:


digital description:


wall description:
This octagonal stone pillar, with Buddhist figures carved on its eight sides, is part of a <em>dharani</em> pillar commissioned by Buddhist believers to pay tribute to the dead. The eight inscriptions seen here are eulogies dedicated by eight families to their deceased family members. <br><br>Dharanis were a form of spell in Esoteric Buddhism said to possess supernatural power when being recited or carried and were incorporated into sutras, such as the <em>Buddha Usnisa Vijaya Dharani Sutra</em>. Dharani pillars, also called sutra pillars, became the dominant bearers of <em>Usnisa Vijaya Dharani</em> which supposedly helped sentient beings prolong life and destroy hardships of the eternal cycle of life and the realms of hell.
---

RELATED WORKS

---

CITATIONS

	Hollis, Howard C. "A Chinese Buddhist Pedestal." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 19, no. 4 (1932): 56–63.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 63
	url:		https://www.jstor.org/stable/25137471

	The Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook.</em> Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 824
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n146

	Yeung, Sara. "Stone Eulogies." <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine,</em> vol. 51, no. 4 (July/August 2011): 13–15.
	page number: 	Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 13–15
	url:		https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2011-04/page/12/mode/2up

---

IMAGES

web:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.983/1929.983_web.jpg
print:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.983/1929.983_print.jpg
full:	https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1929.983/1929.983_full.tif