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Gain access to this incredible resource through either a monthly or a yearly subscription and search the entire collection from your desktop, compare multiple images side by side and zoom into the minute details of the images. Visit www.davidrumsey.com/amica for more information on the collection, click on the link below the revolving thumbnail to the right, or email us at amica@luna-img.com . Creator Nationality: Asian; Southeast Asian; Indonesian Creator Name-CRT: Indonesian Title: Four Vajra-Deities View: Full View Creation Start Date: 966 Creation End Date: 1033 Creation Date: Late 10th-early 11th century Creation Place: Indonesia, East Java, Nganjuk, Chandi Reja Object Type: Sculpture Classification Term: Bronzes Materials and Techniques: Copper alloy Dimensions: Each approx. H. 3 1/4 in. (8.3 cm) AMICA Contributor: Asia Society Owner Location: New York, New York, USA ID Number: 1979.087.1-4 Credit Line: Asia Society: The Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection Rights: http://www.asiasociety.org Context: These four bronze vajra deities, discovered in 1913 in the village of Chandi Reja, Nganjuk, in East Java, illustrate the importance of Esoteric Buddhism in Java. The figures were once part of a larger set of perhaps as many as ninety sculptures that formed a three-dimensional mandala, or cosmic diagram. While the precise textual basis for the arrangement of the entire Nganjuk group has not been established, scholars generally agree that these sculptures, which are now scattered in collections around the world, were part of a Diamond Realm or Vajradhatu mandala. The transcendent Buddha Vairochana is the central diety of the Diamond Realm. In Esoteric Buddhist thought, mastery of both the Diamond Realm, which symbolizes wisdom, and the Womb Realm (Garbhadhatu), which symbolizes practice, is necessary to achieve enlightenment. The small size of these figures and their iconography suggest that they were placed in the outer rings of the mandala, where they functioned as attendants and guardians for the more important deities in the inner part of the mandala. Although the sculptures from the Nganjuk mandala were the first of this type to be discovered, other examples have been found over the last fifty years. A stunning set that can be dated to the early 10th century was excavated in 1976 in Bantul to the southwest of Yogyakarta, and additional single examples dating from the 10th and 11th centuries are in many public and private collections worldwide. The plentifulness of these small statues attests to the importance of the creation of such three-dimensional mandalas in the Buddhism practiced in East Java. The figures' slenderness and their elaborate jewelry are characteristic of sculptures made in East Java during the late 10th and early 11th centuries. Related Document Description: Asia Society. Handbook of the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection. New York: Asia Society, [1981], p. 42. Related Document Description: Huntington, Susan L., and John C. Huntington. Leaves from the Bodhi Tree: The Art of Pala India (8th-12th Centuries) and Its International Legacy. Dayton and Seattle: Dayton Art Institute and University of Washington Press, 1990, pp. 239-42. AMICA ID: ASIA.1979.087.1-4 AMICA Library Year: 1998 Media Metadata Rights: Copyright, Asia Society AMICA PUBLIC RIGHTS: a) Access to the materials is granted for personal and non-commercial use. b) A full educational license for non-commercial use is available from Cartography Associates at www.davidrumsey.com/amica/institution_subscribe.html c) Licensed users may continue their examination of additional materials provided by Cartography Associates, and d) commercial rights are available from the rights holder. Home
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