{
"data": {
"id": 139457,
"accession_number": "1963.263.b",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Naga-enthroned Buddha (base), 1100\u20131150. Cambodia, Angkor, Angkor Wat Period, 12th century. Bronze; overall: 58.4 x 28 cm (23 x 11 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1963.263.b",
"current_location": null,
"title": "Naga-enthroned Buddha (base)",
"creation_date": "1100\u20131150",
"creation_date_earliest": 1100,
"creation_date_latest": 1150,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"Cambodia, Angkor, Angkor Wat Period, 12th century"
],
"technique": "bronze",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Indian and Southeast Asian Art",
"collection": "Cambodian Art",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 58.4 x 28 cm (23 x 11 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.584,
"height_inch": 23,
"height_inch_fraction": 0.0,
"width": 0.28,
"width_inch": 11,
"width_inch_fraction": 0.0
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
"copyright": null,
"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 213514,
"title": "Buddha, Radiant Awakening",
"description": "Buddha, Radiant Awakening. Art Gallery of New South Wales (organizer) (November 10, 2001-February 24, 2002).",
"opening_date": "2001-11-10T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 202079,
"title": "Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art",
"description": "Focus: Tantra in Buddhist Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (May 5-September 15, 2013).",
"opening_date": "2013-05-05T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 296834,
"title": "Beyond Angkor: Cambodian Sculpture from Banteay Chhmar",
"description": "Beyond Angkor: Cambodian Sculpture from Banteay Chhmar. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 14, 2017-March 25, 2018).",
"opening_date": "2017-10-14T04:00:00"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "H. W. Thompson, Bangkok, Thailand",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": null,
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(J.J. Klejman, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "?\u20131963",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": [],
"date": "1963\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
}
],
"find_spot": null,
"related_works": [],
"former_accession_numbers": [],
"did_you_know": null,
"early_education_description": null,
"artlens_description": null,
"description": "Jayavarman VII, who built the great royal temple at Banteay Chhmar, linked himself with the image of the Buddha seated on a serpent, or naga, as the divine form under which he would be honored.
During his reign, the naga-enthroned Buddha became a ubiquitous image for veneration, often set up together with Lokeshvara, who was associated with his father, and Prajnaparamita, the form under which his deceased mother was honored. Lokeshvara is the powerful enlightened being of compassion, while Prajnaparmita is the goddess who personifies wisdom. King Jayavarman VII, therefore, presented himself as the enlightened Buddha, the product of the union of Compassion and Wisdom, supported and glorified by the naga, which refers to the
Khmer people.
Images of the naga-enthroned Buddha have been found at Banteay Chhmar, both in architectural relief sculpture and as icons in the round. After the death of Jayavarman VII, followers of other forms of Buddhism (for example, Theravada) that became prevalent in Cambodia changed the meaning of the naga-enthroned Buddha and reinterpreted the image to refer to a scene from the historical Buddha\u2019s life story in which a serpent protected him from a flood. The crowned and bejeweled aspect of this Buddha, though, indicates that it is another kind of transcendent figure. In his lap his hands are in a posture of meditation, holding what appears to be an offering of ceremonial rice referring to the hope that he will ensure the prosperity of the land.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q80036485"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1963.263.b-naga-enthroned-buddh"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "\"Oriental Art Recently Acquired by American Museums, 1963.\" Archives of the Chinese Art Society of America 18 (1964): pp. 69-91.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 73, fig. 16",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/20067074"
},
{
"citation": "Marcus, Margaret F. \u201cBuddha Sheltered by Mucalinda.\u201d The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 52, no. 7 (1965): 185\u201393.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: pp. 185\u2013193; Reproduced: cover, p. 184, fig. 1; p. 191, figs. 5\u20136; p. 192, figs. 7\u20139",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25152058"
},
{
"citation": "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. 243",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1966/page/n267"
},
{
"citation": "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. 242",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1969/page/n266"
},
{
"citation": "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. 318",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAHandbook1978/page/n338"
},
{
"citation": "Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 163\u2013163",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Menzies, Jackie. Buddha: Radiant Awakening. Sydney: Art Gallery NSW, 2001.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: cat. no. 93, pp. 128\u2013129",
"url": ""
}
],
"url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.263.b",
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"date_created": "2021-02-16T14:50:52",
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"creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
"image_credit": null,
"sketchfab_id": "737e4c43afa940319ad11abe951d94a7",
"sketchfab_url": "https://sketchfab.com/models/737e4c43afa940319ad11abe951d94a7",
"gallery_donor_text": null,
"athena_id": 139457,
"creators": [],
"legal_status": "accessioned",
"accession_date": "1963-05-11T00:00:00",
"sortable_date": 1100,
"date_added_to_oa": null,
"date_text": "1100\u20131150",
"collapse_artists": false,
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"cover_accession_number": "1963.263",
"is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
"impression": null,
"alternate_titles": [
"Buddha Sheltered by Mucalinda, the Serpent King (base: serpent's coils)"
],
"is_highlight": false,
"updated_at": "2026-09-11 22:02:12.373000"
}
}