Bodhisattva
Unidentified Sui Dynasty maker, Chinese, 581–618
Sui Dynasty, 581-617
Stone
Overall: 8 in. (20.3 cm)
Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth: Gift of Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind and D. Herbert Beskind, Class of 1936
S.957.142
Geography
Place Made: China, East Asia, Asia
Period
500-1000
Object Name
Ceremonial Artifact
Research Area
Asia
On view
Inscriptions
Not signed.
Label
When the Hopkins Center for the Arts opened in 1962, it included the first purpose-built art gallery spaces at Dartmouth. The installations featured objects from new gifts to the collection, including many of the objects donated by Dorothy and Herbert Beskind. The bronze yu—a ritual wine vessel—and zhong—a bell used during court religious ceremonies—were both frequently on display in the 1960s and 1970s. The head of a bodhisattva—a being on a path of enlightenment who is progressing toward becoming a buddha—was also on view in the Hopkins Center before the creation of the Hood Museum of Art. With the recent addition of a curator of Asian art to the curatorial team, the collection of Asian art continues to grow through acquisitions, including a recent gift of sixteen ancient Korean ceramics.
From the 2025 exhibition, From Mastodon to Mosaic: Building an Academic Art Collection in America, curated by Ashley B. Offill, Curator of Collections
Course History
Art History 38.01, Asian Socieites, Cultures, and Languages 70.01, Sacred Architecture of Asia, Seher Argawala, Fall 2024
History 72.04/Asian Societies, Cultures, & Languages 64.16, China to 1800, Yi Lu, Fall 2024
Exhibition History
Director's Choice, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 10-July 10, 1966.
Fred Wilson, So Much Trouble in the World - Believe It or Not!, William B. Jaffe and Evelyn A. Jaffe Hall Galleries, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, October 4-December 11, 2005.
From Mastadon to Mosaic, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, June 14, 2025 - Fall 2026
Publication History
Barbara Thompson, Fred Wilson, So Much Trouble in the World - Believe It or Not!, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth College, 2005.
Provenance
Dorothy Marion Levitt Beskind (1917-2014) and David Herbert Beskind (1915-2015), Class of 1936, New York, New York; given to present collection, 1957.
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