On view
Guanyin,
1500
Guanyin is the Chinese name for Avalokiteshvara, the most popular Buddhist deity in East Asia. A bodhisattva, or “enlightened being,” has chosen to forgo nirvana, the state of highest spiritual awakening that extinguishes all suffering, to remain in the world to help others attain salvation. As Buddhism attracted more believers in China, representations of Guanyin underwent significant transformations. In this sculpture, Indian and Chinese features are mingled together: the sitting position derives from the Indian “royal ease” (rajalilasana) posture, but the lionlike beast (hou) below the deity is a mythical Chinese animal that became associated with Guanyin during the Ming dynasty. In addition, the figure’s hairstyle, accessories, rocky pedestal, and armrest all derive from Chinese Buddhist iconography. The tricolor lead-glaze technique emerged during the seventh century in China with copper, iron, and manganese added to the base glaze to create the polychrome effect of green, amber, and cream.
INCISED IN THE REAR OF THE BASE:
Donated by the benefactor Nanzhang Yi,
of Nanshi village, Yangcheng county,
in the thirteenth year of the Hongzhi reign [1500],
with the pious men of this hall, Liu Puming and Lian Fang.
[Made by] a craftsman of this district’s Eastern Gate, Qiao Bin.
陽城縣南石里
施主南張儀施
弘治十三年
本堂善人劉普明 廉方
本縣東関匠喬彬
More Context
Handbook Entry
Bejeweled and brightly colored in the green, amber, and black glazes of the <em>sancai</em>, or "tri-color," palette, the figure embodies the brilliance, sanctity, and compassion that characterize the bodhisattva Guanyin. The face, chest, hands, and exposed foot are covered with a transparent glaze. An inscription in thirty-four characters is carved on the back of the pedestal, while a guardian lion couches at its base. <em> Sancai</em> glazing, first developed and used in architectural ceramics such as roof and ridge tiles in the Northern Wei period (386–535), is best exemplified by the funerary figures and vessels made in the Tang dynasty (618–907) and is found in some of the finest Liao-dynasty (907–1125) Buddhist sculptures. The Ming dynasty’s relatively long period of social stability and thriving economy created a boom in architectural building; palaces, worship halls, temples, and shrines were constructed, often lavishly decorated and furnished with sculptures made of wood, lacquer, and ceramic. Sometime in the middle of the Ming period, it became popular for private individuals to commission large ceramic sculptures, often in sets, for Buddhist and Daoist temples and shrines. This Guanyin figure may be one of the finest surviving examples of Ming-dynasty <em>sancai</em> ceramic sculpture. It is particularly important because the inscription names both the individual donor and the artisan Qiao Bin, and provides the location where the sculpture was made: Yangcheng county in present-day Shanxi province.
More About This Object
Information
1500
Asia, China
Guanyin or Avalokitésvara, the Bodhisattva of Infinite Compassion, is here shown seated in the position of royal ease (rājalīlāsana). Although the Bodhisattva is of Indian origin, according to later Chinese belief, the deity is identified with the island of Putuo near modern Ningbo, Zhekiang province, and is one of the most beloved and represented deities by the Chinese.
The figure has a finely-detailed oval face. The hair is combed up into a topknot encircled by a diadem decorated with the miniature Amitabha Buddha seated on a lotus base. Long tresses are tucked behind bejeweled, elongated ears, descending on each side to the shoulder where they are knotted and divided into three strands. The figure is attired in a green robe with an exposed chest adorned by a beaded necklace. The wrists and knees are encircled by beaded bracelets. The deity sits on a lotus leaf or grass mat on a rock base. A guardian lion crouches at the bottom. The sculpture is glazed in green, yellow, and brown, with a transparent glaze covering the face, chest, hands, and foot. A 34-character inscription is carved on the back of the base.
–2005 Eskenazi Ltd. (London, UK), sold to the Princeton University Art Museum, 2005.
- "Acquisitions of the Princeton University Art Museum 2005," Record of the Princeton University Art Museum 65 (2006): p. 49-81., p. 57 (illus.); p. 58
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collection (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2007), p. 263 (illus.)
- Eileen Hsiang-ling Hsu, "Green, Amber, and Cream: Forgotten Art of Liuli Glazed Ceramics in Ming China," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 71/72 (2012–13): 36–55., p. 36, fig. 1; p. 37, fig. 2 cover of issue
- Princeton University Art Museum: Handbook of the Collections (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Art Museum, 2013), p. 315
