{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O25034"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O25034/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF0035/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2006BF0035/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2006BF0035","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false},{"assetRef":"2017JT7098","copyright":"©Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O25034/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O25034","accessionNumber":"IS.7-1948","objectType":"Sculpture","titles":[{"title":"Death of the Buddha","type":"generic title"}],"summaryDescription":"","physicalDescription":"The lower half of a relief depicting the Buddha's death (parinirvana).  Five disciples are seen grieving in a row in front of the sweeping drapery of the deathbed. On the left-hand side the stricken, groaning figure of Vajrapani props up his reclining body with one arm while the other is raised above his head, having dropped his attribute, a thunderbolt, to the ground. He has curly hair and is bare-chested,dressed only in a robe round the lower part of his body He is being comforted by a bearded man with a top-knot and large earrings. To his right another man half kneels and looks despairingly upwards, raising his (now damaged) right arm up towards where the body of the dead Buddha would have been above. He too is bare-chested, but he wears a necklace and wrist bangles with an <i>uttariya</i> draped over his left shoulder . The next figure is of an ascetic, bare-chested, dressed only in a lower garment with his hair tied up in a topknot. He sits cross-legged and shields his head behind his right hand while his left one rests on top of his left knee.  The last figure on the right is of a meditating monk with his hands wrapped in his robe in his lap with his eyes cast down.  He has a cap-like hairstyle with the ends flicked back across the centre of his head and caught in a tassel-like arrangement over his forehead.  He is presumably Subhadra, the last convert. He sits next to a netted water bag suspended from a tripod of three poles lashed together on the extreme right.  ","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Unknown","id":"A1848"},"association":{"text":"","id":""},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"schist","id":"AAT11626"}],"techniques":[{"text":"carving","id":"AAT53149"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Grey schist","categories":[{"text":"Sculpture","id":"THES48896"},{"text":"Buddhism","id":"THES48984"},{"text":"Architectural fittings","id":"THES48994"}],"styles":[{"text":"gandharan","id":"AAT18889"}],"collectionCode":{"text":"SSEA","id":"THES48598"},"images":["2006BF0035","2017JT7098"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"47A","id":"THES49797"},"free":"","case":"WN","shelf":"","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"Panel","id":""}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"Pakistan","id":"x30015"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":"probably:exact provenance unknown"}],"productionDates":[{"date":{"text":"2nd century-3rd century","earliest":"0100-01-01","latest":"0300-12-31"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"51.5","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"26.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Depth","value":"14","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"From the collection of Colonel D.H. Gordon, D.S.O, O.B.E. Displayed in the exhibition 'The Art of India and Pakistan' at the Royal Academy, London, 1947-8 and subsequently purchased by the V&A.","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Lower part of a relief showing a scene at the death of the Buddha (<i>Parinirvana</i>), grey schist, 3rd century AD, Gandhara","bibliographicReferences":[{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":"W, Zwalf, <u>Buddhism: Art and Faith</u>, British Museum Publications,London, no.27.\r\n\r\nFor events at Parinirvan see Banerji, <u>The eastern Indian School of Medieval Sculpture</u>, p.82.\r\nBurgess, <i>Buddhist Art in India</i>, pp.117-8.\r\nVigier, <u>The life of the Buddha</u>, pp.44-8.\r\n"},{"reference":{"text":"Ackermann, Hans Christoph. <u>Narrative Stone Reliefs from Gandhara in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Catalogue and Attempt at a Stylistic History.</u> Reports and Memoirs. Director of the Series Giuseppe Tucci. Volume XVII. IsMEO, Rome, 1975.","id":"AUTH330359"},"details":"pp. 123-24, pl. LII","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"","id":""},"details":"","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"The art of India and Pakistan, a commemorative catalogue of the exhibition held at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1947-8. Edited by Sir Leigh Ashton. London: Faber and Faber, [1950]","id":"AUTH343744"},"details":"p. 37, cat. no. 116","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Ayers, J. Oriental Art in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London 1983, ISBN 0-85667-120-7","id":"AUTH347571"},"details":"p. 59","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John C., Indian Art, Victoria and Albert Museum, London: H. M. Stationery Office, 1968","id":"AUTH348144"},"details":"pl. 5","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John, C., A Brief Guide to Indian Art, H.M.S.O. 1962","id":"AUTH348473"},"details":"fig. 2","free":""},{"reference":{"text":"Irwin, John; Indian Art: Victoria & Albert Museum departmental guide, H.M.S.O. ISBN 0 905209117, 1978","id":"AUTH348999"},"details":"fig. 3, p. 6","free":""}],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[{"text":"Buddhist","id":"AAT73738"}],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[{"text":"Part of a Relief of the Buddha’s Death (Parinirvana)\r\n\r\n\r\n100–300 \r\nKushan period \r\n\r\nBy the Buddha’s bedside four disciples are grieving. One \r\ndisciple comforts the Buddha’s companion and protector \r\nVajrapani, whose thunderbolt has fallen to the ground.\r\nA fifth disciple, possibly the last convert, Subhadra,\r\nmeditates. A water bottle hangs on a tripod next to the \r\nbed. Such overt expressions of emotion derive from \r\nthe late Hellenistic tradition, which strongly influenced \r\nGandharan art. \r\n\r\nSchist \r\nGandhara/North-west Pakistan\r\nThe upper part missing \r\n\r\nMuseum no. IS.7-1948 \r\n","date":{"text":"06/06/2011","earliest":"2011-06-06","latest":"2011-06-06"}}],"partNumbers":["IS.7-1948"],"accessionNumberNum":"7","accessionNumberPrefix":"IS","accessionYear":1948,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2026-05-19","recordCreationDate":"2000-02-13","availableToBook":false}}