White-Robed Kannon (Byakue Kannon) (c. 1200): Art, History and Details

White-Robed Kannon (Byakue Kannon) (c. 1200) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

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

Kannon is a deity of mercy and compassion in the Buddhist faith. This monochrome sketch comes from Kōzan-ji, a temple in northwest Kyoto. The subdued ink tones and plain brushwork reflect the taste of Zen Buddhism, which began to have an impact on the visual arts in 13th-century Japan.

Object facts

• Title: White-Robed Kannon (Byakue Kannon)
• Date: c. 1200
• Culture: Japan, Kamakura period (1185–1333)
• Type: Painting
• Technique: hanging scroll; ink on paper
• Dimensions: Image: 91.4 x 45.1 cm (36 x 17 3/4 in.); Overall: 178.4 x 64.1 cm (70 1/4 x 25 1/4 in.)
• Collection: ASIAN - Hanging scroll
• Department: Japanese Art
• Accession number: 1951.540

Collection credit

John L. Severance Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• Lee, Sherman E. “A White-Robed Kwannon from Kōzan-Ji.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art, vol. 39, no. 10, 1952, pp. 235–237.
• Lee, Sherman E. "Shin and Sō." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 43, no. 6 (June 1956): 115–118.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art Handbook. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1958.

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.