Afghanistan, Hadda, probably Tape Shotor / c. 300 CE
Seated Buddha
The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Seated Buddha as sculpture (Afghanistan, Hadda, probably Tape Shotor · c. 300 CE).
The way the Buddha holds his hands on his crossed legs indicates that he is shown in meditation.
A CLOSER LOOK
The museum identifies this sculpture as stucco.
The museum's collection notes: Multiple images of seated Buddhas and related figures surrounded monuments called stupas that enshrined sacred relics. Made of stucco, which is a lime-based plaster material, the backs of the sculptures were fixed to the platform on which the hemispherical stupa was constructed. Visitors would see these images as they venerated the stupas by walking around them reverently, in a clockwise direction. The main stupa at Hadda reportedly contained relics of Shakyamuni Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, the founder of the Buddhism.
FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE
The Cleveland Museum of ArtSeated BuddhaOriginal explanation based on the sources above. Images carry their own reuse terms.