id: 127952 accession number: 1950.581 share license status: CC0 url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1950.581 updated: 2022-06-17 09:00:25.880000 Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva, late 1100s. Japan, Heian period (794–1185). Wood, lacquered and painted; overall: 22 x 16 cm (8 11/16 x 6 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1950.581 title: Processional Mask of a Bodhisattva title in original language: 行道面・菩薩 series: series in original language: creation date: late 1100s creation date earliest: 1150 creation date latest: 1199 current location: creditline: John L. Severance Fund copyright: --- culture: Japan, Heian period (794–1185) technique: wood, lacquered and painted department: Japanese Art collection: Japanese Art type: Sculpture find spot: catalogue raisonne: --- CREATORS --- measurements: Overall: 22 x 16 cm (8 11/16 x 6 5/16 in.) state of the work: edition of the work: support materials: inscriptions: --- CURRENT EXHIBITIONS title: 35th Anniversary Exhibition opening date: 1951-06-20T04:00:00 35th Anniversary Exhibition. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 20-September 30, 1951). title: Japanese Arts of the Heian Period opening date: 1967-10-05T04:00:00 Japanese Arts of the Heian Period. The Asia Society Museum, New York, NY (organizer) (October 5, 1967-February 19, 1968); Fogg Art Museum/Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968). --- LEGACY EXHIBITIONS * Japanese Arts of the Heian Period: 794-1185. Asia House Gallery, New York City, NY (October 5-December 17, 1967) and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968). * One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650) from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Japan House Gallery, New York, NY (March 19-May 17, 1981). * Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 237). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (April 10, 2013-November 17, 2015). --- PROVENANCE (Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art) date: ?-1950 footnotes: citations: The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH date: 1950- footnotes: citations: --- fun fact: The most famous welcoming descent procession happens each year on April 14 at the temple Taimadera in Nara. digital description: This ceremonial mask was used in a dramatic enactment of the descent of the Buddha Amida and his entourage to welcome the dying to his Pure Land. The mask represents the face of an enlightened being called a bodhisattva. Performances of the welcoming descent had begun by the early 11th century and continue at some temples today. wall description: This ceremonial mask was used in the religious processions that were particularly popular in the Heian period (794– 1185). In this performance about the Western Paradise, the final resting place of souls in Pure Land Buddhism [n.b. not a final resting place, sv 3/26/2020] 25 actors wearing bodhisattva masks would join an actor portraying the Amida, the Buddha of the Western Paradise. This performance, accompanied by the vigorous drumming [sic. "the vigorous"], offered a vision of the glory of Amida's paradise for devotees. --- RELATED WORKS --- CITATIONS Milliken, William M. “Important Acquisitions of Japanese Art.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 38, no. 9, 1951, pp. 211–217. page number: Mentioned: pp. 212, 217; Reproduced: [no page number, after p. 212] url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25141741 The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958. page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 905 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1958/page/n159 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. page number: Reproduced: p. 274 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n298 Rosenfield, John M. Japanese Arts of the Heian Period, 794-1185. [New York]: Asia Society, 1967. page number: Reproduced: pp. 77 and 118, cat. no. 33 url: The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. page number: Reproduced: p. 274 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n298 The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. page number: Reproduced: p. 370 url: https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n390 Lee, Sherman E, Ursula Korneitchouk, Michael R Cunningham, Ursula Korneitchouk, Cleveland Museum of Art, Japan House Gallery, Japan Society (New York, N.Y.), and Japan House Gallery. One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650): From the Cleveland Museum of Art: Catalogue. New York: Japan Society, 1981. page number: Mentioned and reproduced: P. 24-25, no. 8 url: --- IMAGES web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.581/1950.581_web.jpg print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.581/1950.581_print.jpg full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1950.581/1950.581_full.tif