{
"data": {
"id": 147084,
"accession_number": "1972.96",
"share_license_status": "CC0",
"tombstone": "Virupa, early 1400s. China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Yongle reign (1403-1424). Gilt bronze with silver, stones, and pigment; overall: 43.6 cm (17 3/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Mary B. Lee, C. Bingham Blossom, Dudley S. Blossom III, Laurel B. Kovacik, and Elizabeth B. Blossom, in memory of Elizabeth B. Blossom, 1972.96",
"current_location": "237 Himalayan",
"title": "Virupa",
"creation_date": "early 1400s",
"creation_date_earliest": 1400,
"creation_date_latest": 1420,
"artists_tags": [],
"culture": [
"China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Yongle reign (1403-1424)"
],
"technique": "Gilt bronze with silver, stones, and pigment",
"support_materials": [],
"department": "Chinese Art",
"collection": "China - Ming Dynasty",
"type": "Sculpture",
"measurements": "Overall: 43.6 cm (17 3/16 in.)",
"dimensions": {
"overall": {
"height": 0.436
}
},
"state_of_the_work": null,
"edition_of_the_work": null,
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"inscriptions": [],
"exhibitions": {
"current": [
{
"id": 301752,
"title": "Year in Review: 1972",
"description": "Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).",
"opening_date": "1973-02-27T05:00:00"
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{
"id": 441896,
"title": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet",
"description": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. Royal Academy of Arts, London, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (September 18-December 13, 1992).",
"opening_date": "1992-09-18T04:00:00"
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{
"id": 218855,
"title": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet",
"description": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn, Germany (May 1-August 31, 1996); Fundaci\u00f3 \"la Caixa\", Barcelona, Spain (October 1, 1996-January 12, 1997).",
"opening_date": "1996-05-01T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 218846,
"title": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet",
"description": "Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. Dr. Sun-Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Taipei (January 16-May 1, 1998).",
"opening_date": "1998-01-16T00:00:00"
},
{
"id": 216467,
"title": "The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art",
"description": "The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (October 5, 2003-January 11, 2004); Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, OH (February 8-May 9, 2004).",
"opening_date": "2003-10-05T00:00:00"
},
{
"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"
}
],
"legacy": []
},
"provenance": [
{
"description": "Purchased from an Indian dealer in Kathmandu, Nepal",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "?\u20131965",
"sortorder": 1
},
{
"description": "(J. J. Klejman Gallery, New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1965\u20131972",
"sortorder": 2
},
{
"description": "The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH",
"citations": [],
"footnotes": null,
"date": "1972\u2013",
"sortorder": 3
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"related_works": [],
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"did_you_know": "Virupa's clothing and jewelry are embellished with silver and stones, while pigments enhance his hair and eyes.",
"description": "Virupa is one of the great teachers in the history of tantric Buddhism. His posture references his ability to stop the sun; as an enlightened being, he can control phenomena of nature. As a tantric practitioner, he overturns ordinary assumptions about proper behavior, so he overeats, drinks large quantities of liquor, and waits for the king to pay his bill at the tavern.
At the edge of the lotus pedestal is an inscription identifying the image as having been made in the imperial kilns of the third emperor of the Ming dynasty in China as a gift to a Tibetan monastic leader. While closely linked to Tibetan styles, the luxurious detailing, special gilding process, and the casting of the ornaments onto the body without use of inlay are specifically Chinese characteristics.",
"external_resources": {
"wikidata": [
"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q60753122"
],
"internet_archive": [
"https://archive.org/details/clevelandart-1972.96-virupa"
]
},
"citations": [
{
"citation": "Karmay, Heather. Early Sino-Tibetan Art. Warminster: Aris and Phillips, 1975.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 91, fig. 63",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Be\u0301guin, Gilles. Dieux et de\u0301mons de l\u2019Hima\u0302laya: Art du Bouddhisme Lamai\u0308que : [Exposition], Grand-Palais, 25 Mars-27 Juin 1977. Paris: Secre\u0301tariat d\u2019E\u0301tat a\u0300 la culture, E\u0301ditions des muse\u0301es nationaux, 1977.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 63, pp. 104 and 106",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Schroeder, Ulrich von. Indo-Tibetan Bronzes. Hong Kong: Visual Dharma Publications, 1981.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: no. 146B, p. 520",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan \u570b\u7acb\u6545\u5bae\u535a\u7269\u9662. Hai wai yi zhen. fo xiang [\u6d77\u5916\u907a\u73ce. \u4f5b\u50cf = Chinese art in overseas collections. Buddhist sculpture]. Taibei Shi: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1990.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 196",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan \u570b\u7acb\u6545\u5bae\u535a\u7269\u9662. Hai wai yi zhen. fo xiang [\u6d77\u5916\u907a\u73ce. \u4f5b\u50cf= Chinese art in overseas collections. Buddhist sculpture]. Taibei Shi: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1990.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 196",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "\"1992 Annual Report.\" The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 6 (July 1993): 215\u2013295.",
"page_number": "Mentioned: p. 247",
"url": "https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161418"
},
{
"citation": "Lee, Sherman E., and Naomi Noble Richard. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 453, fig. 591",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Rhie, Marylin M., Robert A. F. Thurman, and John Bigelow Taylor. Wisdom and Compassion: The Sacred Art of Tibet. New York: Tibet House New York in association with Harry N. Abrams, Inc, 1996.",
"page_number": "Abb. 197 (67b), p. 444",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Fisher, Robert E. Art of Tibet. London; New York: Thames and Hudson, 1997.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: fig. 156, pp. 186\u2013187",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Davidson, Ronald M. Tibetan Renaissance: Tantric Buddhism in the Rebirth of Tibetan Culture. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 185, fig. 10",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Stoddard, Heather. Early Sino-Tibetan Art. Bangkok: Orchid Press, 2008.",
"page_number": "Reproduced: p. 87, fig. 63",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine. Vol. 53 no. 03, May/June 2013.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced:p. 4",
"url": "https://archive.org/details/CMAMM2013-03/page/4"
},
{
"citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 221",
"url": ""
},
{
"citation": "Huntington, John C., Dina Bangdel, and Robert A. F. Thurman. The Circle of Bliss: Buddhist Meditational Art. Chicago: Serindia Publications, 2003.",
"page_number": "Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 141\u2013142, cat. no. 28",
"url": null
}
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"creditline": "Gift of Mary B. Lee, C. Bingham Blossom, Dudley S. Blossom III, Laurel B. Kovacik, and Elizabeth B. Blossom, in memory of Elizabeth B. Blossom",
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"alternate_titles": [
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"updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:08:15.367000"
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