Bodhisattva Guanyin in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, September 2019

Title: Bodhisattva Guanyin

Period: Ming dynasty (1368–1644)

Date: 15th–16th century

Culture: China

Medium: Leaded brass

Dimensions: H. 15 1/8 in. (38.4 cm); W. 11 in. (27.9 cm); D. 7 in. (17.8 cm)

Classification: Sculpture

Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1912

Accession Number: 12.37.160

Bodhisattvas are usually adorned as royalty, with heavy jewelry, layered silk robes, and elaborate headdresses. At the center of Guanyin’s crown sits a cross-legged Buddha, the celestial Buddha Amitabha of the Western Paradise, from whose forehead Guanyin is said to have first emerged. The vase in Guanyin’s hands often appears in depictions of the bodhisattva in two special forms: White-Robed and Water-Moon Guanyin.


Text from: www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/61509