The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 6, 2023

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.)

Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1982.147

Location

not on view

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.

Provenance
?–1982
(Navin Kumar Inc., New York, NY, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
1982–
The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
Citations
Pal, Pratapaditya. "Cosmic Vision and Buddhist Images." Art International vol. XXV/1-2 (January, 1982), pp. 8–39. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 24–25
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. Reproduced: p. 201, pl. 122
Lee, Sherman E. "Year in Review for 1982." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 70, no. 1 (1983): 3–55. Mentioned: no. 134, p. 55; Reproduced: no. 134, p. 31 www.jstor.org
Pal, Pratapaditya. Tibetan Paintings: A Study of Tibetan Thankas, Eleventh to Nineteenth Centuries. Vaduz: Ravi Kumar, Lilakala, 1984. Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 111, pl. 46
Kerin, Melissa R. and Rob Linrothe. "Recollecting Kashmir: Cleveland's Eleven-headed, Thousand-armed Avalokiteshvara." Orientations 46, no. 1 (January/February 2015): 68-76. Mentioned and Reproduced: figs. 1, 1a, 3, 4, 5; pp. 68, 70, and 72
Ahmed, Monisha. "Exhibition review of Collecting Paradise: Buddhist Art of Kahsmire and Its Legacies." Mārg 67, no. 1 (September-December 2015): 80–83. Reproduced: fig. 1, p. 80
Exhibition history

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).

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).

Himalayan art rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 1, 2021-February 6, 2022).

Source URL: https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1982.147