A CARVED WOOD SCULPTURE OF GUANYIN

12th century AD
Liao dynasty
China

The Bodhisattva is seated in raja lila asana - royal ease or the king’s posture - as if seated on a throne. The left arm is supported at the elbow by the raised left knee, the hand is missing, while the rigid right arm supports the figure’s weight and is placed to that side.

Two scarves are worn over the naked torso - one acting as a shawl, covering the shoulders and descending down the right arm on that side, and looping down on the left side to drape over the left elbow. The Bodhisattva also wears a low slung dhoti that is held in place by a scarf belt tied into a double knot between the legs. The dhoti folds over and covers the belt in ripples, then clings to both legs - leaving the feet exposed, and the mass of the textile collected and descending between the legs and to the figure’s right side.

A simple scalloped necklace with scrolling decoration and a hanging pendant adorns the figure’s chest - while a wrist bangle is visible around the right wrist, and an arm bracelet around the left bicep. An elaborate and tall scalloped crown - decorated with scrolls and flowers around a central seated figure of Amitabha - is placed above the figure’s forehead; it rests upon a row of gathered plaits of hair that rise from under the crown to form a high top knot. Guanyin’s face is turned slightly to the right and looks down with a serene expression; the eyes are half closed in meditation and the full mouth is closed and sensuously outlined.

Height: 95.5cm / 37 ½”

This figure of Guanyin would originally have been placed in a rockwork grotto. Stylistically this is a good representation of the post Tang more feminine type of sculpture - showing a more relaxed and humanistic deity.

Similar example: ‘An Introduction to the Study of Chinese Sculpture’ by Leigh Ashton - plate LIX frontispiece. This sculpture is from the Eumorfopoulos Collection, and now in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London.