Public domain
Eleven-headed Kannon
From the collection of Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Free to download, adapt and use — no permission needed.
About this work
In this scroll painting, Kannon, the bodhisattva of compassion, descends from Paradise to receive the soul of a Buddhist who has passed away. His clothes are richly decorated in gold patterns. Kannon appears in many different forms. This eleven-headed form represents the ten stages of the bodhisattva’s development, culminating in the total enlightenment of the Buddha – portrayed here as the topmost head.
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s own descriptionSubjects
Credit lineEleven-headed Kannon. 1375 - 1425. anonymous. Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Public domain.
