Collection record · Objects & craft
Vajrasattva
The collection record classifies this work as sculpture. It is dated 1100s–1200s. Recorded culture or place: Cambodia, style of Angkor Thom, 12th-13th century.
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A closer look at the details.
- Museum title
- Vajrasattva
- Date
- 1100s–1200s
- Culture / origin
- Cambodia, style of Angkor Thom, 12th-13th century
- Materials and technique
- bronze
- Dimensions
- Overall: 18.5 cm (7 5/16 in.)
- Artist / maker
- Not specified by the museum
- Museum
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
- Accession number
- 1947.494
FROM THE MUSEUM
In the museum’s words
The following description is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art’s original English record.
Vajrasattva is a Buddhist being of enlightenment who holds the vajra, or thunderbolt, in his right hand and a bell in his left. The vajra and bell are the basic implements used in tantric rituals that were popular under Jayavarman VII and practiced at Banteay Chhmar.
Tantra is a form of Buddhism that makes use of rituals and mantras to aid practitioners in reaching their goals quickly, as though with the speed of lightning. Tantric texts and rituals were used frequently in Cambodia, from the 900s onward, but they were especially prominent under Jayavarman VII. This form of Buddhism appears to have been supplanted by other forms after the 1400s.
Small bronze images of Vajrasattva may have been brought out from a temple treasury during the performance of Buddhist rituals that followed the instructions in a Sanskrit text, brought to Cambodia from India, called the Hevajra-tantra. In that text Vajrasattva manifests at key moments in the rituals.
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Text and image sources
The Cleveland Museum of Art · Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund · CC0
The summary is based on public collection data. Refer to the museum’s latest record for the title, date and attribution.
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