Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin)

China

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 208

This substantial figure of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, once part of a set of three Buddhist icons, can be securely dated by an inscription. The inscription states that the sculpture was created by carving master Feng Xiaozhong and his son and placed in a temple to protect a road and that the residents of Dong’an prefecture (modern Anci county, Hebei province), together with senior monk Xin Zhongwen, commissioned the temple and sculpture in 1385. The inscription is on the interior surface of a wooden panel that covers a small chamber in the back of this figure. The chamber once held consecratory offerings, such as Buddhist texts or jewelry.

Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin), Wood (willow) with gesso and traces of pigment, China

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Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin), Wood (willow) with gesso and traces of pigment, China
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin), Wood (willow) with gesso and traces of pigment, China

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