The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 20, 2025

Bodhisattva Guanyin

late 500s–early 600s

China, late Northern Qi

(550–577) or early Sui dynasty (581–618)
sandstone with polychromy
Overall: 138.8 x 38.2 x 27.4 cm (54 5/8 x 15 1/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
John L. Severance Fund 1962.162
Location: 241C Chinese Buddhist Sculptures

Did You Know?

The carved and painted back suggest that the bodhisattva was originally displayed where it could be viewed in the round.

Description

The artistic excellence of this bodhisattva is further reinforced by comparable outstanding Chinese Buddhist sculptures excavated at Qingzhou in Shandong Province in 1996—one of the most sensational and significant archaeological finds of the 20th century. Like related types among the Qingzhou finds, this statute has a gently smiling face and meticulous detailing of splendid jewelry. A noticeable difference, however, is the unique yingluo (mukt hara) worn by the bodhisattva for personal adornment. The somewhat bizarre but imaginative combination of a string of jewels with grotesque animal masks, flying apsara, jade pendants, dragons, and metal ornaments was probably a regional decorative style of Shanxi Province.
  • ?–1962
    (Mayuyama and Company, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1962–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966. Reproduced: p. 250 archive.org
    Ho, Wai-Kam. “Three Seated Stone Buddhas.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 4 (April 1966): 84–102. Mentioned and Reproduced: pp. 93–94, fig. 24 www.jstor.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969. Reproduced: p. 250 archive.org
    The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 330 archive.org
  • Streams and Mountains Without End: Asian Art and the Legacy of Sherman E. Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 27-August 23, 2009).
    Korea: Bridge of Culture. The Cleveland Museum of Art (organizer) (June 11-August 10, 1980).
    Year in Review - 1962. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (October 24-November 25, 1962).
  • {{cite web|title=Bodhisattva Guanyin|url=false|author=|year=late 500s–early 600s|access-date=20 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1962.162