Provenance Information
Prior to but no later than 1988: Samuel Eilenberg (1913-1998)
From at least 1992: Alexander Götz, New York
2002: Sale, Christie’s, New York, Indian and Southeast Asian Art, March 20, 2002, lot 14 (ill.): “An Important Bronze Figure of the Medicine Buddha, Baishajyaguru, Central Java, 8th/9th century.”
From 2002: Gilbert and Ann Kinney, New York City
Exhibition Information
"Art of the Gift: Recent Acquisitions", Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, July 24 - December 13, 2015
Publication Information
Christie’s Catalog. Indian and Southeast Asian Art exh. cat. New York, March 2002: lot 14 (ill.)
Ancient Art of Southeast Asia, Shirley Day Ltd., 1992, pl. 7
Guy, John. Lost Kingdoms: Hindu-Buddhist Sculpture of Early Southeast Asia. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2014, p.234-235.
Section of the AAMD Guidelines relied upon for the exception to 1970
Cumulative facts and circumstances
Explain why the object fits the exception set forth above
In addition to the facts and circumstances related to the exhibition and publications discussed above the earliest provenance known is ownership by Dr. Samuel Eilenberg (1913-1998) in 1988. Research within the Eilenberg Papers was inconclusive regarding any specific information on this object. The papers rarely contain references to specific objects in his collection although they do contain correspondence, photographs, and family, personal and legal documents spanning 1902-1996; Series 2 includes most of the documents and correspondence (1930-94) related to his art collection. It is known that Eilenberg became interested in art collecting on a trip to Bombay in the mid-1950s and put his storied collection together during the 1950s and 1960s. His collection included objects from Indonesia, Pakistan, India, Nepal, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Central Asia dating from the 3rd century BCE to the 17th century. He acquired objects for his collection through dealers, including Spink and Son, auction houses, and also flea markets. In 1987, he donated more than 400 sculptures and other objects to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which put on a show of holdings from his collection, ''The Lotus Transcendent: Indian and Southeast Asian Art from the Samuel Eilenberg Collection,'' in 1991 and 1992. Following his gift, the Metropolitan Museum conducted a fundraising drive that contributed substantially to the endowment of the Eilenberg Visiting Professorship in Mathematics at Columbia University; Eilenberg was a professor of mathematics at Columbia until his retirement in 1982. Objects from Eilenberg’s collection may also be found in The British Museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum, Brooklyn Museum, The Fowler Museum of Cultural History (UCLA), Friends of Israel Museum, and University of Missouri Museum of Art & Archeology. See Skinner, Asian Works of Art, featuring the Collection of Samuel Eilenberg, auction cat. (Boston, October 20, 2001), p. 5. Pratapaditya Pal, ed., American Collectors of Asian Art (Marg Publications, 1986), p. 146-164. Samuel Eilenberg 1913-1998: A Biographical Memoir (Washington, DC: The National Academy Press, 2000).
