Gilt Bronze Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara)

Sui Dynasty (581- 618)

Height: 16.5 cm

Guanyin (Avalokiteśvara) stands with his left leg slightly bent and the hip gently thrust to the left in tribhanga pose. The Bodhisattva holds a willow branch in the raised right hand and a water bottle in the lowered left hand. The lower body is clad with a dhoti. The Bodhisattva is adorned with a short necklace of beads with a pendant and a longer necklace. Two beaded strings are attached to a diadem looping over each leg up to the shoulders.

The hair is tied to a chignon and the crown of the Bodhisattva is decorated with three diadems and ribbons. The facial features are delicately modeled and have a gentle, meditative expression. The sculpture is further embellished with scarves falling from both shoulders. The Bodhisattva stands on a double lotus throne, which rests on an octagonal three-tired plinth.                                                                                 

Provenance:

Private Collection, Germany since the 1950’s

Similar Examples:

Matsubara Saburō: Chūgoku Bukkyō Chōkoku Shiron, Tokyo, 1995, Vol. 2, pls 526a and 589a, b, c.

Kuboso Memorial Museum, Zui Tō Jidai no Kondobutsu, Osaka, 1993, p. 25, pl. 63.

Hugo Munsterberg,  Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, New York, 1967, pl. 47.