Potalaka Guanyin (900s): Art, History and Details

Potalaka Guanyin (900s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This portable figure of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion who vowed to stay on earth to help human beings, is carved of precious sandalwood. It is lavishly covered with garlands of flowers that retain traces of the original red paint. The small sculpture may have been used in a private devotional context.

Object facts

• Title: Potalaka Guanyin
• Date: 900s
• Culture: China, Five dynasties (907-960)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Carved sandalwood with traces of paint
• Dimensions: Overall: 15.1 x 9.9 cm (5 15/16 x 3 7/8 in.)
• Collection: China - Five Dynasties
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1965.556

A detail from the museum

Mount Potala is the mythical home of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara, called Guanyin in Chinese.

Collection credit

Gift of Mrs. A. Dean Perry

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “Golden Anniversary Acquisitions: September 10 through October 16.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 53, no. 7 (1966): 181–284.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1966. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1966.
• Lee, Sherman E. “Kleinkunst: Two Early Chinese Wood Sculptures.” Archives of Asian Art 20 (1966): 66–70.

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.