Avalokiteśvara
觀世音菩薩像
1919,0101,0.14
Museum Registration Number:
Ch.liv.006
Stein Registration Number:
Description:
Painting of Avalokiteśvara standing on a lotus between two smaller figures. To the left, with shaved head, is the deceased Very Reverend Nun, Yanhui, identified by an inscription on the back. To the right, the young man holding a plate with a lotus is the deceased Probationary Chamberlain Zhang Youcheng, named in the cartouche above him. He was the younger brother of the writer of the inscriptions. Three cartouches on the front, two on the back. Ink and colours on silk.
For a more detailed description from Whitfield "The Art of Central Asia"
H 77.00 cm; W 48.90 cm
Size:
silk
Material:
painted
Technique:
Asia; China; Gansu (province); Dunhuang; Qian Fo Dong (Caves of the Thousand Buddhas)
, Cave 17
Findspot:
Green cartouche in front: Praise to the great merciful, great compassionate saviour from hardship Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva, in perpetual offering. Offered in the hope that the Empire may be peaceful and that the Wheel of the Law may be continually turned therein. Secondly, on behalf of my elder sister and teacher, on behalf of the souls of my deceased parents, that they may be born again in the Pure Land, I reverently made this Great Holy One and with whole heart dedicated it.
Cartouche above Yanhui dates painting to the tenth year of the Tianfu reign of the Tang, AD 910. The Tang dynasty, however, had been overthrown in AD 906. Perhaps remoteness of the area kept this information from reaching Dunhuang.
Inscription:
Bibliography
Chandra, Lokesh~Singhal, Sudarshana Devi; Dunhuang bihua zhong de Guanyin [Guanyin in Dunhuang painting]; Dunhuang; 1995; Dunhuang yanjiu; 2; pp. 89-100; p.97
Fraser, Sarah; The Artist's Practice in Tang Dynasty China (8-10th Centuries); University of California, Berkeley; 1996; fig.145
Fraser, Sarah; Formulas of Creativity: Artist's Sketches and Techniques of Copying at Dunhuang; 2000; Artibus Asiae; 59; 03-Apr; pp.189-224; p.202 and fig.18
Stein, Marc Aurel; Serindia: detailed report of archaeological explorations in Central Asia and Westernmost China; Clarendon Press; Oxford; 1921; vol.IV, pl.LXIX
Stein, Marc Aurel; The Thousand Buddhas. Ancient Buddhist paintings from the cave-temples on the western frontier of China; Quaritch; London; 1921; pl.XXII
Whitfield, Roderick~Farrer, Anne; Caves of the Thousand Buddhas. Chinese Art from the Silk Route; BMP; London; 1990; ISBN 0-7141-1447-2; cat.no.12
Whitfield, Roderick; Paintings from Dunhuang; Kodansha International Ltd (in co-operation with the Trustees of The British Museum); Tokyo; 1983; ISBN 0-87011-555-3; The Art of Central Asia, The Stein Collection in the British Museum; Vol.2; pl.7
Whitfield, Susan; Aurel Stein on the Silk Road; The British Museum Press; London; 2004; ISBN 0-7141-2416-8; fig.95