Accession Number
1964/2.21

Title
Temple with Buddha Votive Plaque

Artist(s)
Chinese

Artist Nationality
Chinese (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
late 6th century - early 7th century

Medium & Support
earthenware with slip

Dimensions
2 1/8 in x 1 7/8 in (5.4 cm x 4.76 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Mrs. Caroline I. Plumer for the James Marshall Plumer Collection

Subject matter
An earthenware mingqi (明器), or "bright object", votive plaque featuring Amitabha Buddha in a temple from the Sui dynasty (581-617).

This small plaque would have served as a small, portable Buddhist shrine. Its presence in a tomb would suggest the occupant would have been a Buddhist. In Pure Land Buddhism, the predominant form of Buddhism in China during the 6th century, practitioners are reborn into Amitabha's Western Paradise through lotus buds. The representations of this phenomena in China depict Amitabha enthroned within a Chinese Pavillion surrounded by Bodhisattva and a sea of lotus flowers.

Physical Description
A small, thin, earthenware molded plaque with a bas-relief architectural scene of a Chinese three-bay building on a dais. There are two slat windows and a hipped roof. A figure stands in the central doorway. The plaque is covered in a white slip.

Primary Object Classification
Ceramic

Primary Object Type
funerary sculpture

Collection Area
Asian

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form. Keywords
Buddhas (visual works)
Buddhism
ceramic (material)
earthenware
figures (representations)
grave goods
miniature (size attribute)
temples (buildings)
votive tablets