The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 25, 2024

Eleven-Headed Guanyin

Eleven-Headed Guanyin

1100–1200
(960-1127) - Jin dynasty (1115-1234)
wood with polychromy and cut gold
Overall: 218.5 cm (86 in.)
Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 1981.53
Location: 238 Chinese Ceramics

Did You Know?

This Guanyin is carved from a single block of willow (genus Salix sp.).

Description

The bodhisattva is an enlightened being dedicated to the spiritual awakening of all beings. The compassionate bodhisattva Guanyin, in a variety of manifestations, is probably the most popular deity of worship in Chinese Buddhism. In the Esoteric Buddhist form shown here, this standing Guanyin has a total of eleven heads, with smaller ones above the principal head. The uppermost head represents the Buddha Amitabha, to whom he is closely related. The eleven heads symbolize the Buddha’s steps on the path to enlightenment.
  • October 19, 1944
    (Sotheby's, New York, NY, sale October 19, 1944, lot 229, sold to C. T. Loo)
    1944–1952
    (C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 [1880–1957], Paris and New York)
    ?–1980
    Anne Valliant Burnett Tandy [1900–1980], Fort Worth, Texas, consigned to Sotheby's New York
    November 6, 1981
    (Sotheby's, New York, NY, sale November 6, 1981, lot 50)
    1981
    (J. E. Eskenazi, Ltd., London, UK, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    1981–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Sotheby Parke Bernet Inc., New York. Chinese Objects of Art. 19 October 1944. Lot 229. Mentioned: Lot 229
    Sotheby's New York. Fine Chinese Ceramics, Works of Art and Paintings. 6 November 1981. Lot 50. Reproduced: lot 50
    Norton, Thomas E. Foreward by Douglas Dillon. 100 Years of Collecting in America: The Story of Sotheby Parke Bernet. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1984. Mentioned: p. 218
    Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan 國立故宮博物院. Hai wai yi zhen. fo xiang [海外遺珎. 佛像 = Chinese art in overseas collections. Buddhist sculpture]. Taibei Shi: Guo li gu gong bo wu yuan, 1990. Reproduced: p. 152
    Cunningham, Michael R., Stanislaw J. Czuma, Anne E. Wardwell, and J. Keith Wilson. Masterworks of Asian Art. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1998. Reproduced: pp. 56-57
    Sun, Di, editor. Zhongguo liu shi hai wai Fo jiao zao xiang zong he tu mu [中国流失海外佛教造像总合图目 = Comprehensive Illustrated Catalogue of Chinese Buddhist Statues in Overseas Collections]. Beijing: Wai wen chu ban she, 2005. Reproduced: vol. 7, p. 1364
    "New in the Galleries.” Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine vol. 59, no. 1 (January/February 2019): Back cover. Reproduced and Mentioned: Back cover.
    Sotheby's (Firm), Hong Kong. Important Chinese art. October 8, 2019. Reproduced: p. 169
  • The Year in Review for 1981. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 17-March 21, 1982).
  • {{cite web|title=Eleven-Headed Guanyin|url=false|author=|year=1100–1200|access-date=25 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1981.53