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Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (觀音 Guan Yin)
Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guan Shih Yin)
Liao dynasty (907-1125), 10th-11th century
Wood with gesso and pigment
Images of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (अवलोकितेश्वर, "the Lord who looks down"), the personification of the Buddhist virtue of compassion, were extremely popular in China from the tenth to fourteenth century. In China, Avalokiteśvara is often depicted in a female form known as Guan Yin. Figures seated in relaxed poses represent the bodhisattva at leisure in his/her personal realm, a paradisiacal world thought to be located on the seacoast of the Fujian Province. The unusual belt worn by this figure illustrates the taste of the Qidan people of the northeast, who ruled much of northern China as the Lian dynasty from the tenth to the early 12th century.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
NYC
Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (觀音 Guan Yin)
Bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (Guan Shih Yin)
Liao dynasty (907-1125), 10th-11th century
Wood with gesso and pigment
Images of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara (अवलोकितेश्वर, "the Lord who looks down"), the personification of the Buddhist virtue of compassion, were extremely popular in China from the tenth to fourteenth century. In China, Avalokiteśvara is often depicted in a female form known as Guan Yin. Figures seated in relaxed poses represent the bodhisattva at leisure in his/her personal realm, a paradisiacal world thought to be located on the seacoast of the Fujian Province. The unusual belt worn by this figure illustrates the taste of the Qidan people of the northeast, who ruled much of northern China as the Lian dynasty from the tenth to the early 12th century.
Metropolitan Museum of Art
NYC