id: 125562 accession number: 1947.494 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1947.494 updated: 2022-01-13 10:01:29.019000 Vajrasattva, 1100s–1200s. Cambodia, style of Angkor Thom, 12th-13th century. Bronze; overall: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1947.494 title: Vajrasattva title in original language: series: series in original language: creation date: 1100s–1200s creation date earliest: 1100 creation date latest: 1299 current location: creditline: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund copyright: --- culture: Cambodia, style of Angkor Thom, 12th-13th century technique: bronze department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art collection: Cambodian Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: Beyond Angkor: Cambodian Sculpture from Banteay Chhmar opening date: 2017-10-14T04:00:00 Beyond Angkor: Cambodian Sculpture from Banteay Chhmar. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (October 14, 2017-March 25, 2018). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS --- PROVENANCE His Excellency the Okna Cakrei Pon, Phnom Penh, Cambodia date: footnotes: citations: (Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?–1947 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1947– footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: From the back of the crown hang cords, which drape over the shoulders. The same type of cords hang from the back of the belt, coiling over the legs symmetrically on either side. digital description: wall description: Vajrasattva is a Buddhist being of enlightenment who holds the vajra, or thunderbolt, in his right hand and a bell in his left. The vajra and bell are the basic implements used in tantric rituals that were popular under Jayavarman VII and practiced at Banteay Chhmar.

Tantra is a form of Buddhism that makes use of rituals and mantras to aid practitioners in reaching their goals quickly, as though with the speed of lightning. Tantric texts and rituals were used frequently in Cambodia, from the 900s onward, but they were especially prominent under Jayavarman VII. This form of Buddhism appears to have been supplanted by other forms after the 1400s.

Small bronze images of Vajrasattva may have been brought out from a temple treasury during the performance of Buddhist rituals that followed the instructions in a Sanskrit text, brought to Cambodia from India, called the Hevajra-tantra. In that text Vajrasattva manifests at key moments in the rituals. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS “Front Matter.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 35, no. 8 (October 1948). page number: Reproduced: cover url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141495 --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1947.494/1947.494_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1947.494/1947.494_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1947.494/1947.494_full.tif