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Standing Bodhisattva

Asian Art

On View: Asian Galleries, Southwest, 2nd floor
With its hands now gone, this Bodhisattva image cannot be definitively identified, but it was probably a Guanyin. Carved from multiple pieces of lightweight, water-resistant paulownia wood, this graceful figure was once covered in bright paint. Guanyin was very popular in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, when the Jin dynasty ruled northeastern China and the Southern Song dynasty ruled the south. Woodcarvers working in both domains at that period made many nearly life-size images of the Bodhisattva.
MEDIUM Wood, traces of polychrome
  • Place Made: China
  • DATES 1115-1234
    DYNASTY Jin Dynasty
    PERIOD Jin Dynasty
    DIMENSIONS 56 5/16 x 18 1/2 x 10 5/8 in., 32 lb. (143 x 47 x 27 cm, 14.52kg) Width at arms: 18 1/2 in. (47 cm) Width at base: 14 1/2 in. (36.8 cm) mount (overall): 58 1/2 × 18 × 10 in. (148.6 × 45.7 × 25.4 cm)  (show scale)
    COLLECTIONS Asian Art
    ACCESSION NUMBER 37.223
    CREDIT LINE Brooklyn Museum Collection
    EXHIBITIONS
    MUSEUM LOCATION This item is on view in Asian Galleries, Southwest, 2nd floor
    CAPTION Standing Bodhisattva, 1115-1234. Wood, traces of polychrome, 56 5/16 x 18 1/2 x 10 5/8 in., 32 lb. (143 x 47 x 27 cm, 14.52kg). Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Museum Collection, 37.223. Creative Commons-BY (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 37.223_front_PS6.jpg)
    IMAGE front, 37.223_front_PS6.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph, 2013
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    RIGHTS STATEMENT Creative Commons-BY
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