The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 27, 2023

Cinerary Urn with Amida’s Pure Land

阿弥陀浄土図骨壺

800s-900s

Part of a set. See all set records

Japan, Heian period

(794–1185)

Gilt bronze

Diameter of mouth: 12.4 cm (4 7/8 in.); Overall: 26.1 cm (10 1/4 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1960.55.a

Location

not on view

Description

This urn once held someone’s ashes. It is decorated with images of the Pure Land of Amida, the Buddha of Infinite Life and Light. Heian-period devotees of Amida believed that if they called upon his name with sincerity at the moment of death, they would be born into his Pure Land, also known as the Western Paradise, and thereby escape the pattern of reincarnation. As shown on the lid of the urn, in the Pure Land, musical instruments float about playing by themselves. Its palatial structures and magnificent lotus pond are described on the body of the urn.

Provenance
Marquis Inoue
?-1960
(Hollis & Company, Cleveland, OH, ?-1960, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1960-
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH, 1960-present
Citations
Rosenfield, John M. Japanese Arts of the Heian Period, 794-1185. [New York]: Asia Society, 1967. Reproduced: pp. 72 and 116, cat. no. 26
Masterpieces of Japanese Art; [Catalogue of the Exhibition] October 4 Through November 30, 1969, Dallas Museum of Fine Arts. Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, 1969. Mentioned: cat. no. 8
Exhibition history

Japanese Arts of the Heian Period: 794-1185. Asia House Gallery, New York City, NY (October 5-December 17, 1967) and Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA (January 17-February 25, 1968).

Masterpieces of Japanese Art. Dallas Museum of Fine Arts, Dallas, Texas (October 4-November 30, 1969)

One Thousand Years of Japanese Art (650-1650) from The Cleveland Museum of Art. Japan House Gallery, New York, NY (March 19-May 17, 1981).

Year in Review - Nineteen Hundred Sixty. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 30, 1960-January 1, 1961).

Japanese Decorative Style. The Cleveland Museum of Art (August 30-October 15, 1961); The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL (November 9-December 17, 1961).

Japanese Gallery 235 Rotation - January-July 2017. The Cleveland Museum of Art (January 9-July 10, 2017).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1960.55.a