Olana State Historic Site

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NEHAN-ZU, Buddha Attaining Nirvana (detail), probably early nineteenth-century, 151 x 87 in. In Church's lifetime, this extremely large, painted Japanese scroll mounted on silk was hung high on the wall of the grand staircase in the Court Hall at Olana. Thought to perhaps be one of the first such paintings to enter an American collection, this traditional temple painting depicts Buddha, at the moment of achieving the state of Nirvana (spiritual enlightenment), surrounded by all the animals of the earth and sky. This work is In need of conservation, and is not currently on view on Olana.

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NEHAN-ZU, Buddha Attaining Nirvana (detail), probably early nineteenth-century, 151 x 87 in. In Church's lifetime, this extremely large, painted Japanese scroll mounted on silk was hung high on the wall of the grand staircase in the Court Hall at Olana. Thought to perhaps be one of the first such paintings to enter an American collection, this traditional temple painting depicts Buddha, at the moment of achieving the state of Nirvana (spiritual enlightenment), surrounded by all the animals of the earth and sky. This work is In need of conservation, and is not currently on view on Olana.