Bodhisattva Guanyin of the South Sea (1600s): Art, History and Details

Bodhisattva Guanyin of the South Sea (1600s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Guanyin, the Buddhist bodhisattva of infinite compassion (Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit), is the most revered enlightened being in East Asia. The bodhisattva perceives all beings in need of help and reveals himself in many forms. Here, his elaborate lotus pedestal rests on the crest of surging waves, identifying him as Guanyin of the South Seas. The Dehua kilns in Fujian province in southern China produced white porcelain figures for both the domestic and export markets. In China, such a figure may have furnished a house altar or a temple.

Object facts

• Title: Bodhisattva Guanyin of the South Sea
• Date: 1600s
• Culture: China, Fujian Province, Ming dynasty (1368-1644) - Qing dynasty (1644-1911)
• Type: Ceramic
• Technique: Porcelain with white glaze, Dehua ware
• Dimensions: Overall: 45.2 cm (17 13/16 in.)
• Collection: China - Ming Dynasty
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1950.579

A detail from the museum

When Marco Polo visited China in the late 1200s, he was so impressed by the Dehua kilns that he included lengthy descriptions of ceramic production in his chronicle of his journey.

Collection credit

The Norweb Collection

Further reading listed by the museum

• Milliken, William M. "Part II. Annual Report Issue for the Year 1950." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 38, no. 6 (1951): 151-82.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.
• Lee, Sherman E. A History of Far Eastern Art. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1964.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.