Water-Moon Kannon (Suigetsu Kannon) (1868–1912): Art, History and Details

Water-Moon Kannon (Suigetsu Kannon) (1868–1912) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Kannon represents a primary figure of benevolence and compassion in the Buddhist pantheon. Identified early in Buddhist texts as a close attendant to the Buddha, by the 700s Kannon's popularity soared to such an extent in China, Korea, and Japan that the bodhisattva was often worshipped independently. Here at the lower left, Kannon is depicted with the child Zenzai Dōji (Sakskrit: Sudhana), a wealthy boy who, according to the final chapter of the Flower Garland Sutra, visited Kannon's abode Fudaraka (Sanskrit: Potalaka) during a long journey to learn the bodhisattva path.

Object facts

• Title: Water-Moon Kannon (Suigetsu Kannon)
• Date: 1868–1912
• Culture: Japan, Meiji period (1868–1912)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll, ink, gold, silver, color, and cut gold-leaf on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 104.5 x 41.9 cm (41 1/8 x 16 1/2 in.); Overall with knobs: 188.9 x 64.8 cm (74 3/8 x 25 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1992.119

Collection credit

Mr. and Mrs. William H. Marlatt Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review for 1992." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 80, no. 2 (1993): 38–79.

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.