During the Tang Dynasty (618-906) China’s vast empire extended far to the west, and trade and travel brought successive waves of influence from beyond her borders, particularly from India and Central Asia. Painters and sculptors took new interest in volume and naturalistic description. Chinese Buddhist art maintained and exaggerated the sense of weight and mass, particularly in sculpture, through the fourteenth century. This bodhisattva, probably made under the Jin Dynasty, which occupied northern China during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, has a languorous gravity. The figure retains the taste for substance that infused the Chinese style during the Tang Dynasty, modified by the elegance demanded in the Song. The aloof, aristocratic demeanor is distinctly Chinese.

Guanyin, whose mission is mercy and compassion, sits in a posture of royal ease, not teaching through didactic gestures but listening without attachment. In his crown is his parent, Buddha, Amitabha, and he has the other iconographic features of a bodhisattva—the costume and jewelry of Indian nobility. The sculptor has draped the figure in graceful swags of fabric, softening his appearance, but the drapery too has weight, spilling over the knee of the figure and around his feet, sustaining the feeling of imperturbability and unwavering focus.

The sculpture is made of joined blocks of wood, fitted together by mortise and tenon. Restoration has been carried out on the extended arm and hand. The colors have faded, and in their original condition they would no doubt seem shockingly bright to modern viewers.


(For Grades K-2)

What material(s) is this sculpture made out of? (Iron, silk, brocade)

If you touched this work of art how would it feel? Would it be soft or hard? Rough or smooth? Different depending on which part you touch?

Do you think this work of art is supposed to be used or was it made just to look at?