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Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin)

dated 1385
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.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • 明洪武十八年 彩繪木雕水月觀音菩薩像
  • Title: Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin)
  • Period: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
  • Date: dated 1385
  • Culture: China
  • Medium: Wood (willow) with gesso and traces of pigment
  • Dimensions: H. 30 1/4 in. (76.8 cm); W. 18 in. (45.7 cm); D. 13 1/2 in. (34.3 cm)
  • Classification: Sculpture
  • Credit Line: Anonymous Gift, in memory of Edward Robinson, 1953
  • Object Number: 53.196a, b
  • Curatorial Department: Asian Art

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Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin), Wood (wiillow) with traces of pigment; single woodblock construction, China
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin)
China
dated 1282
The Spiritual Master Padmasambhava, Copper alloy with copper and silver inlay, Western Tibet or Ladakh
The Spiritual Master Padmasambhava
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Buddha Shakyamuni, Brass with colored pigments, Central Tibet
Buddha Shakyamuni
Central Tibet
12th century
Twenty-One Emanations of the Goddess Tara, Stone with polychrome, Tibet
Twenty-One Emanations of the Goddess Tara
Tibet
14th century
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin), Wood (willow) with traces of pigment; multiple-woodblock construction, China
Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin)
China
11th century

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