PROVENANCE:
Private Asian Collection

A Carved Wood Figure of Tankasri Avalokitesvara
Ming Dynasty (AD 1368-1644)

The Avalokitesvara has round face with full cheeks and down-casted eyes, a pearl necklace adorning her neck, appearing dignified, generous and elegant. The figure’s wearing a kasaya on the upper body and a long skirt the lower half, seated on a mountain rock with her left hand leaning on the seat and right hand casually put on her right knee. The wood figure is nicely preserved with the skirts draping down the seat naturally.

Tankasri Avalokitesvara is one of the thirty-three incarnations of Bodhisattva. After the Buddhism in India come into being, it spreads broadly the entire world. Whether the region that belief in Mahayana or Hinayana can find the track of Avalokitesvara. From the Buddhism into Han-Dynasty, Chinese began to believe the Avalokitesvara. In China, it can be sawed in many tempels and the believer read Namo mahamaitri maharuna are innumerable. As The Fahua Jing Buddhist scriptures translated in Wei-Jing and Northern and Southern Dynasties, the image of Avalokitesvara began into the process of Nationalization and Secularization. Through the integration of outside national culture, Tankasri Avalokitesvara was produced based on The Huayan Jing. It stands for Avalokitesvara image of nationalization in China. Through long time influenced, Avalokitesvara had integrated with Chinese culture; it showed the Chinese aesthetic and wisdom.