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Maker: Unknown
Soapstone, carved as a seated bu dai, with A calico bag. The monk is supposed to have been the last incarnation of Maitreya and to have died in 917. He is usually represented seated with a large bare stomach, playing with children, and with a bag containing his belongings and food. He is reported to have slept in the open air and to have indicated coming changes of weather by changing his shoes
History note: Unknown before testator
C.E. Byas Bequest
Width: 12 cm
Method of acquisition: Bequeathed (1938) by Byas, Cecil E.
17th Century, Late
18th Century
1650
CE
-
1800
CE
Including Base Height 9.2 cm
Accession number: O.25-1938
Primary reference Number: 138334
Stable URI
Owner or interested party:
The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department:
Applied Arts
This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:
The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Carving" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/138334 Accessed: 2025-12-05 19:09:31
To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:
{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/138334
|title=Carving
|author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 19:09:31|publisher=The
University of Cambridge}}
To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:
https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-138334
To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:
<div class="text-center">
<figure class="figure">
<img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/aa/aa20/O_25_1938_20_281_29.jpg"
alt="Carving"
class="img-fluid" />
<figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Carving</figcaption>
</figure>
</div>
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