Standing Bodhisattva

Object Details

• Provenance

  Originally located in Cave 2, southern Xiangtangshan, Hebei province, China. [1]

  1914

  Charles Vignier (1863-1934), Paris and C. T. Loo (1880-1957), Paris, in April 1914. [2]

  From at least 1916 to 1968

  Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), New York, Washington, DC, and Mt. Kisco, NY, purchased from C. T. Loo, not later than March 13, 1916. [3]

  From 1968

  Freer Gallery of Art, given by Agnes E. Meyer in 1968. [4]

  Notes:

  [1] The removal of the sculpted figures and fragments from the Xiangtangshan caves began ca. 1909 at the time of political upheaval in China and continued throughout several decades, see http://xts.uchicago.edu/, accessed on August 2010. See also J. Keith Wilson and Daisy Yiyou Wang, "The Early-Twentieth-Century 'Discovery' of the Xiangtangshan Caves," in Katherine R. Tsiang et al., Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan, exh. cat. (Chicago: Smart Museum of Art; Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2010), pp. 106-129 and Katherine R. Tsiang and J. Keith Wilson, "Catalogue of Works in the Exhibition," in Katherine R. Tsiang et al., Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan, 2010, pp. 208-209, cat. no. 22 (ill.).

  [2] The sculpture was published in April 1914 as owned by Charles Vignier, a symbolist poet, dealer, and collector, see "Early Chinese Sculpture," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs vol. 25, no. 133 (April 1914), pp. 40, 43 (pl. 2, D). C. T. Loo shared with Vignier the ownership of this and other Xiangtangshan sculptures published in the Burlington Magazine article. According to Loo, it was his Beijing office that secured the sculptures in China, see C. T. Loo, "Preface" in C. T. Loo and Co., An Exhibition of Chinese Stone Sculptures (New York: C. T. Loo and Co., 1940), np.

  See also J. Keith Wilson and Daisy Yiyou Wang 2010, pp. 107-108.

  [3] See Eugene Meyer’s letter to S. C. Bosch-Reitz, dated March 13, 1916, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, New York. In the letter, Meyer stated that he had acquired the sculpture recently and offered to loan it to the Metropolitan Museum. See also Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 11, no. 5 (May 1916), p. 120-121 and C. T. Loo, "Preface" in C. T. Loo and Co. 1940. The sculpture was returned to the Meyers probably by the end of 1916; the Meyers lent it again to the Metropolitan Museum from 1923 to 1934. See correspondence between Agnes E. Meyer and S. C. Bosch-Reitz, September 1923 and correspondence between Agnes E. Meyer and H. E. Winlock, November 1934, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives. The sculpture was published in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture From the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century (London: Benn, Ltd., 1925), vol. 1, p. 129, vol. 4, pl. 472.

  [4] See Agnes E. Meyer's Deed of Gift, dated July 24, 1967, where the sculpture is listed as no. 29 in the document's Annex, copy in object file. The object was accessioned to the Freer Gallery's collection in 1968.

• 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)

  Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan (February 26, 2011 to January 6, 2013)

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

  Chinese Art—Stone Sculpture (September 1, 1979 to March 14, 1982)

  Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)

• Previous custodian or owner

  Charles Vignier (1863-1934)

  C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 (1880-1957)

  Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer ((1875-1959) and (1887-1970))

  Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970)

• Origin

  southern Xiangtangshan, Cave 2, Hebei province, China

• Credit Line

  Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer

• Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Freer Gallery 17: Promise of Paradise

• Restrictions and Rights

  CC0 - Creative Commons (CC0 1.0)

  This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page.

  The information presented on this website may be revised and updated at any time as ongoing research progresses or as otherwise warranted. Pending any such revisions and updates, information on this site may be incomplete or inaccurate or may contain typographical errors. Neither the Smithsonian nor its regents, officers, employees, or agents make any representations about the accuracy, reliability, completeness, or timeliness of the information on the site. Use this site and the information provided on it subject to your own judgment. The National Museum of Asian Art welcomes information that would augment or clarify the ownership history of objects in their collections.

Keep Exploring

• Related Resources

  collections.si.edu

• Date

  500s

• Name

  Loo, C. T., Meyer, Agnes E., Vignier, Charles, Meyer, Eugene and Agnes E.

• Place

  China, Hebei province, southern Xiangtangshan, Cave 2

• Topic

  Art, Temple, Chinese Art, Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577), Avalokite?svara (Buddhist deity), Lotus, Stone, Bodhisattva, Guanyin

• Culture

  Buddhists, Chinese

• Object Type

  Sculpture

• On View

  Yes