Standing Avalokitesvara (700s): Art, History and Details

Standing Avalokitesvara (700s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

This small gilt-bronze statue represents the Bodhisattva of Compassion (관음보살 in Korean), an enlightened being who helps devotees on their path. It features two prominent attributes: a water sprinkler (kundika in Sanskrit) and a miniature image of Buddha Amitābha in its jeweled crown. Its sweet and gentle smile accentuates this celestial being’s immeasurable compassion for human suffering.

Object facts

• Title: Standing Avalokitesvara
• Date: 700s
• Culture: Korea, Unified Silla period (668–935)
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: Gilt-bronze
• Dimensions: Overall: 18.5 x 6.5 x 4.5 cm (7 5/16 x 2 9/16 x 1 3/4 in.)
• Collection: Korean Art
• Department: Korean Art
• Accession number: 1998.80

A detail from the museum

Created during the Unified Silla period, a high point of the spread of Buddhist teachings, this kind of miniature gilt-bronze statue was often used as a portable object of devotion by traveling Buddhist monks.

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, So-young, and Denise Patry Leidy. Silla: Korea's Golden Kingdom. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2013.
• Washizuka, Hiromitsu, Youngbok Park, U-bang Kang, and Naomi Noble Richard. Transmitting the Forms of Divinity: Early Buddhist Art from Korea and Japan. New York: Japan Society, 2003.
• Gwak, Dong-seok. Hanguk ui geumdongbul [한국의 금동불] . Seoul: Dareun sesang, 2016.

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.