Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara as the Water Moon Guanyin

Object Details

• Description

  Incised relief of the Bodhisattva Water-Moon Guanyin.

  Color: gray, with dark brown patina on surface.

• Inscriptions

  one dated 1095; a second dated 1633

• Label

  By the tenth century, Chinese Buddhists created a deity called Guanyin of the Water Moon, who is especially important in the meditative Buddhist school known as Chan (Zen in Japanese). Guanyin of the Water Moon is among the few Buddhist deities that have no direct Indian prototype. The halo around Guanyin symbolizes the moon and the Buddhist belief that the phenomenal world is as illusory as moonlight on water. In this delicately incised image Guanyin holds a bottle of heavenly dew and a willow wand.

  The inscription alludes to Guanyin’s compassionate nature with the hope that every devotee who looks upon this sculpture “will be spared the loss of his father at a tender age.”

• Provenance

  To 1914

  Dikran G. Kelekian (1868-1951), Cairo, Egypt, Paris, France, and New York to 1914 [1]

  From 1914 to 1919

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919), purchased from Dikran G. Kelekian, New Yorkin 1914 [2]

  From 1920

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

  Notes:

  [1] See Original Miscellaneous List, S.I. 522, pg. 150, 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

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

• Previous custodian or owner

  Dikran Garabed Kelekian (1868-1951) (C.L. Freer source)

  Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919)

• Origin

  China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Charles Lang Freer

• Type

  Sculpture

• Restrictions and Rights

  Usage Conditions Apply

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Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  1000s

• Name

  Freer, Charles Lang, Kelekian, Dikran Garabed

• Place

  China

• Topic

  Charles Lang Freer collection, Art, Moon, Chinese Art, Outer space, Northern Song dynasty (960 - 1127), Stone, Lettering, Guanyin

• Culture

  Buddhists, Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture