White-Robed Guanyin (late 1200s–early 1300s): Art, History and Details

White-Robed Guanyin (late 1200s–early 1300s) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection. The museum's creator attribution is Jueji Yongzhong (Chinese, active around 1300); Zhongfeng Mingben (Chinese, 1263–1323).

The work and its context

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

The original model for this ink drawing of Guanyin, the bodhisattva of infinite compassion (Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit), is CMA 1978.47.1. This drawing is a later copy with the same image of the White-Robed Guanyin, but in reverse. The inscription above reads: one of the 84,000 painted by the priest Insei. The inscription seems to indicate that the Japanese priest Insei repeatedly copied the image of the bodhisattva in an act of piety and to accumulate merit, as is promised in the Lotus Sutra for anyone who paints images of the Buddha, they “will achieve the Buddha path.” The priest’s name and seal need further study and identification.

Object facts

• Title: White-Robed Guanyin
• Date: late 1200s–early 1300s
• Creator attribution: Jueji Yongzhong (Chinese, active around 1300); Zhongfeng Mingben (Chinese, 1263–1323)
• Culture: China, Yuan dynasty (1271-1368)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink and gold on silk
• Dimensions: Painting: 80.7 x 25.7 cm (31 3/4 x 10 1/8 in.); Overall with knobs and cord: 168.2 x 44.5 cm (66 1/4 x 17 1/2 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Chinese Art
• Accession number: 1978.47.2

A detail from the museum

The bodhisattva's face and halo were delicately painted in gold.

Collection credit

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund

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.