CultureChina
DynastyQing
Date1700-1850
Mediumwood
Object number00.95.6
Institutional Credit LineCourtesy of the New Bedford Whaling Museum
DescriptionA Chinese statue of Wei Tuo/Weituo, also known as the Mahayana Bodhisattva Skanda in Buddhism, often shown wearing the garb of a warrior, and either leaning on or holding in his arms a “thunderbolt and diamond” vajra staff. He is shown as a protective warrior deity dressed in ornate armor. His chainmail-style armor features plates on his thighs and arms, vambraces with dramatically curved protrusions, a lengthy skirt, and a thick cuirass. His stylized countenance features slender eyes, puffy cheeks, and smirking lips. Ours is missing a staff, but the round pommel is still in his hand. Note how the staff does not meet the plinth that he stands on. Our is also missing a halo or other head dressing. There are spots on his shoulders where another element was originally attached. The entire figural carving is covered in fine gilding. For a stylistically similar example from the Ming Dynasty, please see The Metropolitan Museum of Art, accession number 47.74. This one is more likely from the late Qing Dynasty, ca. 1700 to 1850. On View
On view
![Leiut. [sic] Robt. Baines of the Wager in Comre. Anson's squadron to his brother at York](/internal/media/dispatcher/97422/thumbnail)
1750-1805
![Plantation House, The Country Residence of the Governor [St. Helena]](/internal/media/dispatcher/93300/thumbnail)
ca. 1800
