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Eleven-Headed Guanyin
1100–1200
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Cleveland, United States
The bodhisattva is an enlightened being dedicated to the spiritual awakening of all beings. The compassionate bodhisattva Guanyin, in a variety of manifestations, is probably the most popular deity of worship in Chinese Buddhism. In the Esoteric Buddhist form shown here, this standing Guanyin has a total of eleven heads, with smaller ones above the principal head. The uppermost head represents the Buddha Amitabha, to whom he is closely related. The eleven heads symbolize the Buddha’s steps on the path to enlightenment.
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Details
- Title: Eleven-Headed Guanyin
- Date Created: 1100–1200
- Physical Dimensions: Overall: 218.5 cm (86 in.)
- Provenance: (Sotheby's, New York, NY, sale October 19, 1944, lot 229, sold to C. T. Loo), (C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 [1880–1957], Paris and New York), Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy [1900–1980], Fort Worth, Texas, consigned to Sotheby's New York, (Sotheby's, New York, NY, sale November 6, 1981, lot 50), (J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art), The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- Type: Sculpture
- Rights: CC0
- External Link: https://clevelandart.org/art/1981.53
- Medium: wood with polychromy and cut gold
- Fun Fact: This Guanyin is carved from a single block of willow (genus <em>Salix sp.</em>).
- Department: Chinese Art
- Culture: China, late Northern Song dynasty (960-1127) - Jin dynasty (1115-1234)
- Credit Line: Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund
- Collection: China - Song Dynasty
- Accession Number: 1981.53
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