White-Robed Guanyin

This portrait of Avalokitêśvara Bodhisattva, or Guanyin ( J. Kannon), shows the central figure dressed in white robes, encircled with thin line, and seated atop a stone pedestal. The painter’s signature, Zhengwu, can be seen hidden in the left overhang of the stone. This is a well-known and rare example of a Chan ( J. Zen)temple ink painting from the Yuan dynasty.
In many of the White-Robed Guanyin paintings, the head is covered in silk, the body is clothed in white, and the figure is relaxing in a cave located on Mount Potalaka, Avalokitêśvara’s mythical dwelling located in the seas to the south of India. The simplicity and the freshness of the figure’s form was such that, along with representations of the arhats, it became a favored painting topic in Chan temples.
The primary lines of the robes have been vigorously and uniformly executed in dark ink, while the interior shading of the silk and the robe have been realized in pale ink to impart the smooth texture of the fabric. The beads decorating both the crown and the chest section of the robes, and the sole decoration of a jug containing a branch seen at the edge of the stone pedestal have been meticulously outlined in uniform brushstrokes.
In contrast, the stone pedestal background and the flowing waters have been roughly executed in thin ink. The pedestal, in particular, makes use of a calligraphic technique known as feibaiti ( J. hihakutai), in which the brushstrokes have been applied with brush hairs splayed to create a jagged angular effect, this being a technique that distinguishes the literati painting style. The contrasts created by this painting technique raised the aesthetic appreciation of a painting, whether religious or secular.
The inscription was written by Yunwai Yunxiu (1242–1324), a Chan priest belonging to the Hongzhi school of the Caodong ( J. Sōtō) sect. Dongming Huiri ( J. Tōmyō Enichi, 1272–1340) of Engaku-ji Temple in Kamakura studied under him in China. In his last years, during the Zhizhi era (1321–1323), Yunxiu served as the chief abbot of the Jingdechan monastery located in Ming province, Qingyuan prefecture (presentday Zhejiang province, Ningbo). This painting is thought to have been executed during that period.