In Esoteric Buddhism, the Buddha is understood as having been born of the Law, which is regarded, therefore, as the Buddha Mother. This image depicts the Esoteric manifestation of Guanyin (Avalokiteshvara, in Sanskrit) as the Buddha Mother, a deity with multiple arms and a third "all-seeing" eye. In Chen Hongshou's interpretation, however, the Buddha Mother does not appear as a formidable incarnation of scripture but as a winsome young woman. Her unruly hairdo and the unconventional gesture of clutching strands of hair in her mouth may derive from heroines of contemporary popular theater rather than Buddhist iconography.
This large-scale example of Chen Hongshou's early figure style is a rare complement to the small-scale figures in his early album paintings and woodblock prints. At this enlarged scale, Chen Hongshou's technique and idiosyncratic stylistic sources become readily apparent. His relaxed and fluid drapery lines do not follow the disciplined brush mannerisms of literati models but instead are derived from popular paintings and woodblock prints.
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Painting
with mounting, rollers, and knobs
Inscription on side
Inscription on lower left
Artwork Details
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明 陳洪綬 準提佛母法像圖 軸
Title:Bodhisattva Guanyin in the Form of the Buddha Mother
Artist:Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652)
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:dated 1620
Culture:China
Medium:Hanging scroll; ink on paper
Dimensions:Image: 49 1/4 x 19 1/16 in. (125.1 x 48.4 cm) Overall with mounting: 96 3/4 x 24 9/16 in. (245.7 x 62.4 cm) Overall with knobs: 96 3/4 x 28 1/2 in. (245.7 x 72.4 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Purchase, Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 1992
Accession Number:1992.197
Inscription: Artist’s inscription and signature (3 columns in standard script)
In the forty-eighth year of the Wanli reign era of the Great Ming dynasty, on the twenty-ninth day of the first month [March 4, 1620], Mr. Chen Zhimo of Shanyin remarked: “I have wished for [an icon] to venerate for many years, but have never obtained an image to reverence. Why don’t you respectfully paint a precious likeness for me?” Written by Chen Hongshou after purifying himself.[1]
[1] Translation by Maxwell K. Hearn in Metropolitan Museum of Art, A Decade of Collecting, 1984-1993: Friends of Asian Art Gifts. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1993, p. 23. Modified
[ James Freeman , Bangkok, Thailand, until 1992; sold to MMA]
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Traditional Scholarly Values at the End of the Qing Dynasty: The Collection of Weng Tonghe (1830–1904)," June 30–January 3, 1999.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Chinese Painting, Masterpieces from the Permanent Collection," August 28, 2004–February 20, 2005.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Secular and Sacred: Scholars, Deities, and Immortals in Chinese Art," September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Arts of the Ming Dynasty: China's Age of Brilliance," January 23–September 13, 2009.
Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago. "Performing Images: Opera in Chinese Visual Culture," February 13, 2014–June 15, 2014.
Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, University of California at Berkeley. "Repentant Monk: Illusion and Disillusion in the Art of Chen Hongshou (1599–652)," October 25, 2017–January 28, 2018.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Learning to Paint in Premodern China," February 18, 2023–January 7, 2024 on view February 18–July 16, 2023.
Weng Wan-go 翁萬戈. Chen Hongshou 陳洪綬 (Chen Hongshou: His life and art). vol. 2, Shanghai: Shanghai renmin meishu chubanshe, 1997, pp. 43–44, cat. no. 9.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Friends of Asian Art Gifts, 1985–2007. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2008, p. 39.
leaves a–d by Chen Hongshou (Chinese, 1598/99–1652)
one leaf dated 1627
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