Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin)

Object Details

• Description

  Standing Bodhisattva Lotus holder Guanyin in relief against a flaming "mandorla;" inscription of 32 characters incised on four-legged base.

  Bronze gilded and much worn.

• Inscriptions

  (H.C. Lovell, 1974) The inscription reads: "Ta Wei Hsing-an erh-nien sui tsai kuei-ssu Chu-lu hsia Ch'u-yang ch'ing-hsin-nu Chao Lu-yuan wai mang tsu-fu mu ching tsao Kuan-Shih yin hsian" [Chn]

  It can be rendered: "In the second year of Hsing-an of the Great Wei Dynasty [A.D. 453], cycle "kuei-ssu," Buddhist Chao Lu-yuan (woman) of Ch'u-yang, in the proximity of Chu-lu, respectfully had this image of Kuan-yin made for her deceased grandparents."

  (See Curatorial Remark number 6)

  The inscription reads: [Chn]

  "Dai Wei Xingan ernian sui zai guisi Julu xia Quyang qingxin nu Zhao Luyuan wei wang zufumu jing zao Guanshiyin xiang" which can be translated: "Great Wei Dynasty, Xingan era second year (453 A.D.), year cycle guisi, the female believer Zhao Luyuan of Quyang, near Julu (present day Hebei), for the sake of her deceased grandparents respectfully had this image of Guanshiyin made."

  (See Curatorial Remark number 8)

  方座的右侧刻有铭文题记曰： transcription by Chang Qing

  大魏太和…/年/岁/在/癸巳…鹿

  方座背部续刻铭文题记曰：

  方座背部续刻铭文题记曰：

• Provenance

  To 1909

  Meh Tuh Kee, Shanghai, to 1909 [1]

  From 1909 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Meh Tuh Kee, Shanghai, in 1909 [2]

  From 1920

  Freer Gallery of Art, gift of Charles Lang Freer in 1920 [3]

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Bronze List, S.I. 98, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Archives.

  [2] See note 1.

  [3] The original deed of Charles Lang Freer's gift was signed in 1906. The collection was received in 1920 upon the completion of the Freer Gallery.

• Collection

  Freer Gallery of Art Collection

• Exhibition History

  Promise of Paradise (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)

  Promise of Paradise: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (December 1, 2012 to January 3, 2016)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)

  Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to September 21, 2004)

  Studies in Connoisseurship 1923-1983 (September 23, 1983 to March 1, 1984)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Meh Tuh Kee (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  Quyang, Hebei province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  400s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Tuh Kee, Meh

• Place

  Quyang, China, Hebei province

• Topic

  Period of Division (220 - 589), Art, Mandorla, Chinese Art, Avalokite?svara (Buddhist deity), Bodhisattva, Northern Wei dynasty (386 - 534), Guanyin

• Culture

  Buddhists, Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture