Bodhisattva

Although these are statues in wood, stone, or bronze, Buddhist art specialists frequently use the term “image” to emphasize their religious function. This iconography makes them easily distinguishable in religious sculptures and paintings produced in India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Burma, and Thailand

Bodhisattvas in Buddhist Art
The term Bodhisattva refers, in Mahayana Buddhism and Vajrayana, to a being committed to the path of Enlightenment who chooses to delay their final entry into nirvāṇa in order to help all sentient beings free themselves from suffering. This figure of compassion and wisdom occupies a central place in Buddhist art across Asia.

Although these are statues in wood, stone, or bronze, Buddhist art specialists frequently use the term “image” to emphasize their religious function. These works were not only intended to be admired, but also to serve as supports for devotion, meditation, and ritual practices.

Unlike the Buddha, generally represented in monastic appearance, Bodhisattvas often wear rich adornments composed of crowns, necklaces, bracelets, and precious ornaments recalling their princely origin. This iconography makes them easily distinguishable in religious sculptures and paintings produced in India, Nepal, Tibet, China, Burma, and Thailand.

Among the most renowned Bodhisattvas are Avalokiteshvara, embodiment of compassion, Manjushri, associated with wisdom, Vajrapani, personification of spiritual power and protector of the Dharma, Tara, feminine figure of compassion and protection particularly venerated in Mahayana and Vajrayana, notably in Tibet where her cult holds a major place, and Maitreya, the future Buddha destined to appear in the world when the teaching of Sakyamuni has disappeared.

The works gathered under this category come from the former Claude de Marteau collection, an important private collection devoted to Buddhist and Hindu art from India, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia. They bear witness to the diversity of Bodhisattva representations produced over the centuries in the different artistic traditions of the Buddhist world.