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White-Robed Guanyin
From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
Guanyin, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion (Avalokiteshvara, in Sanskrit), reveals himself in many forms. According to Buddhist belief, one such manifestation is the white-robed Guanyin sitting on a rock on the island of Putuo (Potalaka, in Sanskrit), located along the coast not far from Ningbo, in Zhejiang Province, China. Here, the figure was swiftly drawn in only a few ink lines. The inscription above is by Zhongfeng Mingben, perhaps the most widely respected and influential Chan (Zen in Japanese) master in the Yuan dynasty. The artist’s signature is a single line below on the left: Huanzhu Yongzhong .
Cleveland Museum of Art’s own descriptionCredit lineWhite-Robed Guanyin (白衣觀音菩薩像), late 1200s–early 1300s. Jueji Yongzhong (Chinese, active around 1300), inscribed by Zhongfeng Mingben (Chinese, 1263–1323). Hanging scroll; ink on paper; painting: 78.7 x 31.7 cm (31 x 12 1/2 in.); overall with knobs: 164 x 38 cm (64 9/16 x 14 15/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund, 1978.47.1
