{
"data": {
"id": 135837,
"accession_number": "1959.349",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Birth of the Buddha, 800s. Northeastern India, Bengal, Pala dynasty (730-1197). Black chlorite; overall: 46.4 x 27.3 x 11.4 cm (18 1/4 x 10 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1959.349",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Birth of the Buddha",
"creation_date": "800s",
"creation_date_earliest": 800,
"creation_date_latest": 899,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Northeastern India, Bengal, Pala dynasty (730-1197)"
],
"technique": "Black chlorite",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Indian Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 46.4 x 27.3 x 11.4 cm (18 1/4 x 10 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.464,
"height_inch": 18,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.25,
"width": 0.273,
"width_inch": 10,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.75,
"depth": 0.114,
"depth_inch": 4,
"depth_inch_fraction": 0.5
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [
{
"inscription": "Phenomena arise from causes;/ \nThe causes have been revealed by the Buddha,/ \nAs have the means for their cessation;/\nThus has been declared by the Great Ascetic.",
"inscription_translation": "",
"inscription_remark": "The inscription in Sanskrit frames the figure of Queen Maya on both sides.",
"sortorder": 1
}
],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 302015,
"title": "Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty",
"description": "Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).",
"opening_date": "1960-11-30T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 515926,
"title": "Miniatures and Small Sculptures from India",
"description": "Miniatures and Small Sculptures from India. University Galleries, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL (organizer) (April 10-May 29, 1966).",
"opening_date": "1966-04-10T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 309885,
"title": "Sacred India",
"description": "Sacred India. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 5, 1985-January 12, 1986).",
"opening_date": "1985-11-05T05:00:00"
},
{
"id": 668609,
"title": "Creation, Birth, and Rebirth",
"description": "Creation, Birth, and Rebirth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17, 2024-July 16, 2025).",
"opening_date": "2024-08-17T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "(Heeramaneck Galleries, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131959",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1959\u2013",
"sortorder": 2
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "The historical Buddha known as Shakyamuni was born Prince Siddhartha around the end of the 400s BCE near the border of what is today India and Nepal. His mother, Queen Maya, was traveling from her husband\u2019s capital to her family home to give birth, but the baby came early and was born in a grove of shala trees.
The miraculous circumstances of his birth are related in a number of textual sources. They state that he emerged from her right side, so Queen Maya here is shown grasping the branch of a tree with her right hand raised, like a nature divinity. The baby was received by Indra, king of the gods, and immediately he took seven steps. The figure at the lower right is Brahma, the Hindu god of creation. In works of Buddhist art, Hindu gods appear as subservient or inferior to the Buddha.
The Sanskrit inscription records a common Buddhist prayer of this period:
Phenomena arise from causes;
The causes have been revealed by the Buddha,
As have the means for their cessation;
Thus has been declared by the Great Ascetic.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60740647"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1959.349-birth-of-the-buddha"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Miniatures and Small Sculptures from India. University Gallery, April 10th thru May 29th, 1966. Gainesville: College of Architecture and Fine Arts, University of Florida, 1966.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 17",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Marcus, Margaret F. \u201cSculptures from Bihar and Bengal.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 54, no. 8, 1967, pp. 240\u2013262.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 249, fig. 8",
"url": "www.jstor.org/stable/25152173"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Motherhood across Time. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2021.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 7",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Lutz, Gerhard, and Elina Gertsman. Creation and (Re)birth. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2024.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 3, fig. 2",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1959.349",
"images": {
"annotation": null,
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_web.jpg",
"width": "662",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "372019",
"filename": "1959.349_web.jpg"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_print.jpg",
"width": "2522",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4679143",
"filename": "1959.349_print.jpg"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_full.tif",
"width": "3732",
"height": "5032",
"filesize": "56369348",
"filename": "1959.349_full.tif"
}
},
"alternate_images": [
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt0_web.jpg",
"width": "650",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "433322"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt0_print.jpg",
"width": "2476",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "5706693"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt0_full.tif",
"width": "3659",
"height": "5025",
"filesize": "55191584"
},
"date_created": "2006-03-28T16:07:32",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt1_web.jpg",
"width": "595",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "368698"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt1_print.jpg",
"width": "2266",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "4077005"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt1_full.tif",
"width": "3333",
"height": "5000",
"filesize": "50026548"
},
"date_created": "2006-03-28T16:26:06",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt2_web.jpg",
"width": "714",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "461348"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt2_print.jpg",
"width": "2720",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "5209611"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt2_full.tif",
"width": "3805",
"height": "4756",
"filesize": "54322148"
},
"date_created": "2006-03-28T17:00:00",
"annotation": ""
},
{
"web": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt3_web.jpg",
"width": "714",
"height": "893",
"filesize": "491235"
},
"print": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt3_print.jpg",
"width": "2720",
"height": "3400",
"filesize": "5713509"
},
"full": {
"url": "https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1959.349/1959.349_alt3_full.tif",
"width": "3755",
"height": "4694",
"filesize": "52913292"
},
"date_created": "2006-03-28T17:01:30",
"annotation": ""
}
],
"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": null,
"sketchfab_url": null,
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 135837,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1959-12-19T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 800,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "800s",
"collapse_artists": false,
"on_loan": false,
"recently_acquired": false,
"record_type": "object",
"conservation_statement": null,
"has_conservation_images": false,
"cover_accession_number": null,
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-05-29 06:56:29.088000"
}
}