Water-Moon Guanyin (Shuiyue Guanyin)
1400-1499
Scroll
Water-Moon Guanyin (Shuiyue Guanyin)
1400-1499
Physical Qualities
Metal alloy, originally gilded, with blue and red pigment, 61 3/4 x 41 x 33 in. (156.8 x 104.2 x 83.8 cm.); weight estimated at 1,000 lbs.
Credit Line
Julius Levy Memorial Fund
Object Number
1944.80
Guanyin attained enlightenment with the guidance of the Amitabha Buddha, the Buddha of Infinite Light, but rather than enter the eternal bliss of nirvana, remains in this world to relieve the suffering of all creatures. Able to assume many guises, she is portrayed here as Water Moon Guanyin, known to sit in a rocky grotto at the water’s edge beneath the full moon. She contemplates the moon’s ephemeral reflection at her feet. Strands of beaded jewelry, flowing robes, long fleshy earlobes, long hair, and bare feet are familiar attributes of Guanyin. Her slight smile invites the confidence of the faithful, while her downcast eyes survey the emptiness of existence.
Within a larger temple complex, this Water-Moon Guanyin would have occupied a north-facing altar behind the Buddha altar, in a passage-hall with both a front and rear door. There, faithful followers venerated Water-Moon Guanyin by walking in a circle around the back-to-back altars in an effort to be reborn in Amitabha’s Western Paradise. Credited with providing children, easing childbirth, restoring health, and averting natural disasters, Guanyin’s popularity remains second to Buddha’s across most of Asia.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by purchase, 1944; Tonying & Co., New York
Asian Reinstallation: Home, Temple, Tomb
Asian Gallery Rotations 2021
[Asian Refresh]
Asian Gallery Rotations 2022
Asian Gallery Rotations 2023
Asian Rotations 2024
Asian Rotations 2025
"The Baltimore Museum of Art News," May 1944.
"The Sunday Sun," 'Magazine (Rotogravure) Section,' Aug. 15, 1954, ill.
"The Sunday Sun," 'Magazine (Rotogravure) Section,' Oct. 30, 1955, ill.
"A Picture Book," Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 1955, p. 89, ill.
"Innovative Programs," BMA Today, Spring 2009, p. 16, ill.
Helen Buss Mitchell, "Roots of Wisdom, A Tapestry of Philosophical Traditions," 6th ed., Boston: Wadsworth Cenage Learning, 2011, p. 164, ill.
Baltimore Museum of Art. The Baltimore Museum of Art: Celebrating a Museum. Baltimore: The Baltimore Museum of Art, 2014.
BMA Today, issue 159 (winter/spring 2019): p. 12.
"Water-Moon Guanyin," BMA Today, no. 168, Spring 2022, p. 3, ill
BMA Today, no 168 (summer 2022): p. 3.
"Lotus Sutra," http://www.sgi.org/buddhism/lotus-sutra.html
Bernd Melchers, "China The Temple of the Lohan in Ling-yan-si, Hagen: Folkwang-Verlag G.M.B.H., 1921 pp. 24-25
Sherman Lee, "Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting," Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
Roderick Whitfield and Anne Farrer, "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas," London: British Musuem, 1990, 9-23, 38, 41.
Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu, editors, "Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China," Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Chun-fang Yu, 'P'u-t'o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka,' "Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China," Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992, pp. 190-245.
Bagyalakshmi, 'The Creation of Goddess of Mercy from Avalokitesvara,' "Across the Himalayan Gap," New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 1998. (http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41028.html, pp. 1-11)
William Magee and Yi-hsun Huang, "Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) and Modern Society," Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2007.
Dorothy C. Wong, 'Guanyin Images in Medieval China, 5th-8th Centuries,' "Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) and Modern Society," Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2007, pp. 255-302.
Chun-fang Yu, 'Kuan-yin Devotion in China,' "Dharma World," April-June 2008
(http: www.kosei-shuppan.co.jp/english/text/mag/2008/08_4563.html, pp. 1-6).
'Guanyin,' "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture," compiled by EdwART, Rutgers University, 2011 (http://contemporary_chinese_culture.academic.ru/296/Guanyin)
Bernd Melchers, "China The Temple of the Lohan in Ling-yan-si, Hagen: Folkwang-Verlag G.M.B.H., 1921 pp. 24-25
Sherman Lee, "Eight Dynasties of Chinese Painting," Cleveland: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1980.
Roderick Whitfield and Anne Farrer, "Caves of the Thousand Buddhas," London: British Musuem, 1990, 9-23, 38, 41.
Susan Naquin and Chun-fang Yu, editors, "Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China," Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992.
Chun-fang Yu, 'P'u-t'o Shan: Pilgrimage and the Creation of the Chinese Potalaka,' "Pilgrims and Sacred Sites in China," Berkeley: University of California Press, 1992, pp. 190-245.
Bagyalakshmi, 'The Creation of Goddess of Mercy from Avalokitesvara,' "Across the Himalayan Gap," New Delhi: Gyan Publishing House, 1998. (http://ignca.nic.in/ks_41028.html, pp. 1-11)
William Magee and Yi-hsun Huang, "Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) and Modern Society," Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2007.
Dorothy C. Wong, 'Guanyin Images in Medieval China, 5th-8th Centuries,' "Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara (Guanyin) and Modern Society," Taipei: Dharma Drum Publishing Corporation, 2007, pp. 255-302.
Chun-fang Yu, 'Kuan-yin Devotion in China,' "Dharma World," April-June 2008
(http: www.kosei-shuppan.co.jp/english/text/mag/2008/08_4563.html, pp. 1-6).
'Guanyin,' "Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture," compiled by EdwART, Rutgers University, 2011 (http://contemporary_chinese_culture.academic.ru/296/Guanyin)