Skip to main content
Artist/Maker
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date1644-1912
MediumJade
DimensionsOverall: 4 3/4 in. (12.1 cm)
Credit LineHamilton College Collection
Object number2024.8
On view
DescriptionLate Qing Dynasty carved figure depicting Guanyin (or Kuanyin), a Buddhist goddess of compassion. Guanyin is the Chinese version of Avalokiteshvara, the most compassionate of the Bodhisatvas, and is often paired with Mahasthamaprata, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom. They are often depicted to either side of the Buddha Amitabha (Amida in Japanese, Amituofo in Chinese), the Buddha of the Western Paradise. Kuanyin came to stand alone as we see in this image, and was transformed from male into female toward the end of the Tang dynasty, very likely because it represented compassion. As for what it may have held in its left hand, it may have been a ritual kalasa flask symbolically containing an elixir of longevity.
Additional Details
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 960-1127
Medium: Stoneware with white glaze
Object number: 2016.6.4
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 960-1279
Medium: Ceramic with black glaze
Object number: 2016.6.2
Date: unknown
Medium: Ceramic with glaze
Object number: 1991.232
Alexa Kumiko Hatanaka
Date: 2021
Medium: Sumi paintings on washi, linocut on washi, rice bags, indigo, kakishibu, and gyotaku on washi, konnyaku, and handmade deckle box gampi paper
Object number: 2024.15
Charles T. Scowen
Date: c. 1880s
Medium: Albumen print from a collodion negative
Object number: 2020.9.214
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 960-1126 CE
Medium: Stoneware with qingbai glaze
Object number: 1993.12.1a
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 960-1126 CE
Medium: Stoneware with qingbai glaze
Object number: 1993.12.2a
Unknown artist, Chinese
Date: c. 618-907 CE
Medium: Red clay with remnants of pigment
Object number: 1994.58
Yun-Fei Ji
Date: 2014
Medium: Ink and watercolor on Xuan paper, mounted on silk
Object number: 2016.3.2
Yun-Fei Ji
Date: 2015
Medium: Ink and watercolor on Xuan paper, mounted on silk
Object number: 2016.3.1