The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of April 19, 2024
White-Robed Guanyin
late 1200s
attributed to Zhang Yuehu
(Chinese, active 1200s)
Painting: 104.5 x 42.2 cm (41 1/8 x 16 5/8 in.); Overall with knobs: 195.4 x 61.8 cm (76 15/16 x 24 5/16 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1972.160
Location: not on view
Did You Know?
As an artist, Zhang Yuehu was better known in Japan than in his own country.Description
The figure here sits on a rocky elevation representing Potalaka in the Southern Sea, Avalokitesvara’s island home. A vase with a bamboo sprig holds pure water, the nectar of life. Bamboo shines through the figure’s halo, a way of seeing the illusionary world through the Buddhist truth.Avalokitesvara (Guanyin in Chinese), the bodhisattva of compassion, was integrated into the Chan Buddhist canon of venerated beings. In this context, the bodhisattva is often depicted in its female manifestation as the White-Robed Guanyin. The worship of the feminine White-Robed Guanyin has its origins on Mount Tianzhu in Hangzhou, where Qian Liu (852–932), ruler of the Wuyue kingdom, established the Upper Tianzhu Monastery to venerate her image.
- ?–1972(Mayuyama and Company, Tokyo, Japan, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)1972–The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
- The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1978. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978. Reproduced: p. 343 archive.orgHo, Wai-kam, Sherman E. Lee, Laurence Sickman, and Marc F. Wilson. Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting: The Collections of the Nelson Gallery-Atkins Museum, Kansas City, and the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, in cooperation with Indiana University Press, 1980. Reproduced: cat. no. 66, pp. 84-85
- China's Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 10, 2023-January 7, 2024).Chinese Buddhist Gallery Rotation. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (February 10, 2016-August 1, 201).Main Asian Rotation (Gallery 119). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (October 29, 2003-March 15, 2004).Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art (November 7, 1980-January 4, 1981); The Cleveland Museum of Art (February 11-March 29, 1981); Tokyo National Museum (October 4-November 17, 1982).Year in Review: 1972. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 27-March 18, 1973).
- {{cite web|title=White-Robed Guanyin|url=false|author=Zhang Yuehu|year=late 1200s|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1972.160