Head of Guanyin (late Northern Qi/Sui dynasty, late 6th century): Artwork and History

Head of Guanyin (late Northern Qi/Sui dynasty, late 6th century) is in the Art Institute of Chicago collection. The museum lists its creator attribution as China.

The work and its context

The Art Institute of Chicago describes the work:

The benign, altruistic aspect of Buddhism is expressed in this beautifully sculpted marble head of the bodhisattva Guanyin (Sanskrit: Avalokitesvara). The miniature image of the Buddha known as Amitabha (Amituo), depicted in the crown, is clear indication of the bodhisattva's identity. Certain features of this head are shared with other Buddhist icons: the concave forehead circle (urna) is an auspicious mark from which wisdom radiates; the elongated earlobes allude to the aristocratic Indian custom of wearing heavy earrings, and thereby to the Buddha's early life as an Indian prince. This majestic head, which was severed from a monumental standing figure, characterizes the finest sculpture made in far northern China in the late sixth century. The fine-grain white marble from this area was well suited to rounded, smoothly polished surfaces and austere, idealized images. Serene benevolence emanates from Guanyin's gentle, meditative expression (somewhat altered by later recutting of the pupils of the eyes).

Object facts

• Title: Head of Guanyin
• Date: late Northern Qi/Sui dynasty, late 6th century
• Artist attribution: China
• Place of origin: China
• Medium: Marble with traces of metal fittings at crown
• Dimensions: 68.6 × 43.2 × 45.7 cm (27 1/16 × 17 1/16 × 18 in.)
• Type: Sculpture
• Department: Arts of Asia
• Reference number: 1923.1114

Collection credit

Samuel M. Nickerson Collection

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The description above is credited to the Art Institute of Chicago and reused under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0; HTML formatting has been converted to plain text. Other catalogue metadata and the public-domain image are provided under CC0 1.0.