Unknown
Chinese
Bodhisattva of Compassion, Guanyin, Seated in “Royal Ease”, 1115-1234 ca., Jin dynasty
wood
52 x 29 x 22 in.
Gift of Ina T. Campbell and Wright S. Ludington
1947.1
RESEARCH PAPER
Guanyin, Bodhisattva of Compassion and Mercy, is seated in a pose of royal ease (maharajalila) with his left foot resting on a lotus and his right arm on his upraised right knee. In this position he is identified as Guanyin of The Southern Seas or Water-Moon Guanyin; usually seated on a weathered rockery: suggested here by a large block of wood.
HISTORY:
When the T'ang Dynasty fell in 906CE, there followed a period of 50 years in which China was divided into a number of warring kingdoms. China was finally reunited in 960CE when the Song Dynasty established. The Song rulers did not continue the imperialist conquests as had dominated the Han and late T'ang, but pursued a pacifist policy: trying to buy off the northern nomads rather than dominate them. This policy worked for a while, but in 1125 the Jurchin Tartars raided the Song capital at Kaifeng and captured most of the Song court. The Song rulers fled south and in 1127 established the Southern Song Dynasty with its capital at Hangchow. In the meantime, the Tartars established the Jin (Chin) Dynasty with its capital at Beijing. China was once again a divided country.
Having no organized system of government of their own, the Tartars quickly adopted the Chinese culture. Religious sculpture continued to be produced in Northern China, however, the sculptors turned from stone to wood, clay, and dry lacquer; materials which more easily yielded to the striving for a pictorial effect popular in this time and which could be tinted with colors to make them vivid like paintings.
In the pantheon of Buddhist religious figures, the Bodhisattva “one whose nature is understanding” ranks just below Buddha himself. The Bodhisattva is one who has attained the supreme wisdom and virtue necessary for Buddhahood and entrance into the perfect state of Nirvana. However for the time being, the Bodhisattva voluntarily renounces his personal redemption to help redeem all other human beings.
In contrast to depictions of Buddha who is shown wearing simple monk’s robes, Bodhisattvas are shown wearing richly folded garments covering the lower part of the body, the chest is bare except for a long shawl draped around the body. Bodhisattvas wear costly jewelry appropriate to a prince, and as was inspired by Indian sculptures a towering coiffure in the shape of a crown, strings of beads threaded thru his hair, ankle and arm bracelets.
Quite often he is shown holding one or more attributes: a lotus flower, a bottle of nectar, a sword or other objects. Many have an “urna” (sign of enlightenment) between their eyes on their foreheads and an “aureole” or halo (sign of their divine nature) represented by a circular disc or pointed jewel shaped form attached to the back of the head.
Though it was done in the Song Dynasty, this Bodhisattva Seated at Royal Ease has many of the masculine attributes of the Indian Avalokiteshvara: especially noted are the square shape of the face, the larger hands, and the triangular chest in the shape of the head of a bull. It was, however, in this Dynasty, that the Chinese came to believe that both men and women were compassionate and therefore allowed their images of Bodhisattva to appear more feminine at times. By comparison to this Bodhisattva at Royal Ease look at the slim barrel torso of the body and the delicate hands and face of the SBMA Standing Bodhisattva next to it in our museum.
It is not appropriate, however, to refer to either of these Bodhisattva sculptures as being either masculine or feminine. Bodhisattvas have overcome the dualities of the world, including the differences between sexes, and have achieved that state of total enlightenment where there is the perfect balance of yin (feminine, dark, quiet) and yang (masculine, light, vigorous).
ARTIST
The name of the artist is unknown. The Chinese have never considered sculpture as “art”. Great Chinese art is regarded as intellectual and the hard labor required to produce a piece of sculpture is not considered an intellectual pursuit. Sculptors are considered craftsmen rather than artists and therefore their work is seldom signed. This attitude does not, however, detract from the beauty of this work or our enjoyment when we encounter it.
STYLE and MATERIAL
The SBMA Guanyin is an outstanding example of the Buddhist sculpture produced during the Jin period and is one of the few surviving works in wood from the 13th Century, a time when Buddhist art was losing its vigor. The flowing lines of the skirt, the trailing drapery of the scarves and the elaborate crown give a baroque quality to the figure. A small figure of the Amitabha Buddha in the headdress is now missing. The Amitabha Buddha is Guanyin’s spiritual patron and his appearance in the crown would confirm that this is Guanyin. The relaxed pose is less stylized than that of work done in previous centuries making him seem more approachable.
It was carved out of several blocks of wood, pieced together to give it the full shape and dimension at the base. Then it would have been hallowed out in back to help the wood dry as evenly as possible and not split over time. This hallow was often used in subsequent times to store religious documents. Then the surface must have been painted as we can see in some areas, there is still some of the yellow-orange prime left but also the kind of cracking, splitting, or pocking in other areas suggest that these were painted surfaces which had dried more rapidly than the core. Other places where the sculpture is the natural grey of weathered wood, it suggests that this sculpture was located in a place unprotected from the elements or used in outdoor ceremonies.
Looking specifically at the toes of the right foot, they bear witness to the fact that this sculpture has been lovingly polished by the believers as they reached up to touch it as it was carried past them in a religious procession or perhaps when it was just enough out of their reach in a niche in a temple so that they could only touch the toes.
Each touch would have assured them that they would receive some of the great compassion that the Bodhisattva brings to anyone who looks at them.
Prepared for the website by Josie Martin Dec. 2004 & Gail Elnicky Jan. 2005
Bibliographic materials include:
Text from past museum hand outs prepared by the curators for training.
An uncredited paper prepared by a previous docent.
As well as information from the following texts:
Indian Art by Vidya Dehejia; Phaidon, London, 1997.
Reading Buddhist Art: An Illustrated Guide to Buddhist Signs and Symbols
By Meher McArthur, published by Thames and Hudson, Inc., London, 2002
The Story of Sculpture: from Prehistory to the Present by Francesca Romei
Peter Bedrick Books, New York, 1995.
History of Asian Art by Michael Sullivan (see Docent Library)
SBMA CURATORIAL LABELS
Guanyin, or Avalokitesvara in Sanskrit, which literally means “He Who Observes the Sounds of the World”, is the Buddhist Bodhisattva of Compassion who answers all prayers and protects the faithful from calamities. This sculpture would have been placed high in a temple, referencing Guanyin’s mountainous grotto residence from which he gazes down on mankind. This figure and the Standing Guanyin in this gallery are two of the few surviving wooden sculptures from the 12th and 13th centuries, a time when the growing popularity of Buddhism led to more humanized portrayals of deities.
- Asian Art Reopening, 2021