id: 150723
accession number: 1982.147
share license status: CC0
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1982.147
updated: 2023-05-25 11:12:05.387000
Eleven-Headed, Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva of Compassion (Avalokiteshvara), c. 1500. Western Tibet. Gum tempera and ink on cotton; overall: 94.6 x 69.2 cm (37 1/4 x 27 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1982.147
title: Eleven-Headed, Thousand-Armed Bodhisattva of Compassion (Avalokiteshvara)
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: c. 1500
creation date earliest: 1495
creation date latest: 1505
current location:
creditline: Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
copyright:
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culture: Western Tibet
technique: Gum tempera and ink on cotton
department: Indian and Southeast Asian Art
collection: Tibetan Art
type: Painting
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
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measurements: Overall: 94.6 x 69.2 cm (37 1/4 x 27 1/4 in.)
state of the work:
edition of the work:
support materials:
inscriptions:
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies
opening date: 2015-01-13T00:00:00
Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kashmir and Its Legacies. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Evanston, IL (organizer) (January 13-April 19, 2015); Rubin Museum of Art, New York, NY (May 22-October 19, 2015).
title: Himalayan art rotation
opening date: 2021-09-01T04:00:00
Himalayan art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the Trans-Himalayan Trade Routes. Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery of UCLA, Los Angeles, CA (November 7, 1982-January 2, 1983); Asia Society Gallery, New York, NY (February 6-April 3, 1983); National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC (April 28-June 30,1983).
* Selections from the Tibetan Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (July 1-October 25, 1993).
* Main Himalayan Rotation (Gallery 239). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (November 18, 2013-June 30, 2014).
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PROVENANCE
(Navin Kumar Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
date: ?–1982
footnotes:
citations:
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
date: 1982–
footnotes:
citations:
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fun fact:
digital description:
wall description:
One thousand arms surround the central figure like a radiating halo. Each hand has an eye in the palm to see the suffering of all beings, generating the sense of compassion that this figure embodies. The special form of the central image of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara derives from the mystic vision of a nun named Gelongma Palmo, who was born a Kashmiri princess, but prayed for leprosy to avoid having to marry and became an accomplished nun. While meditating in a cave, she achieved this vision of 11-headed, 1,000-armed Avalokiteshvara, who cured her leprosy and guided her on the path to enlightenment.
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Pal, Pratapaditya. "Cosmic Vision and Buddhist Images." Art International vol. XXV/1-2 (January, 1982), pp. 8–39.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 24–25
url:
Klimburg-Salter, Deborah E., and Maximilian Klimburg. The Silk Route and the Diamond Path: Esoteric Buddhist Art on the Trans-Himalayan Trade Routes. Los Angeles, CA: Published under the sponsorship of the UCLA Art Council, 1982.
page number: Reproduced: p. 201, pl. 122
url:
Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1982." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (1983): 3–55.
page number: Mentioned: no. 134, p. 55; Reproduced: no. 134, p. 31
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25159799
Pal, Pratapaditya. Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries. Vaduz: Ravi Kumar, Lilakala, 1984.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 111, pl. 46
url:
Kerin, Melissa R. and Rob Linrothe. "Recollecting Kashmir: Cleveland's Eleven-headed, Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara." Orientations 46, no. 1 (January/February 2015): 68-76.
page number: Mentioned and Reproduced: figs. 1, 1a, 3, 4, 5; pp. 68, 70, and 72
url:
Ahmed, Monisha. "Exhibition review of Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kahsmire and Its Legacies." Mārg 67, no. 1 (September-December 2015): 80–83.
page number: Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 80
url:
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IMAGES
web: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.147/1982.147_web.jpg
print: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.147/1982.147_print.jpg
full: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/1982.147/1982.147_full.tif