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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1943.57.14
Title
Eleven-Headed Guanyin
Other Titles
Alternate Title: Guanyin Pusa [Kuan-yin P'u-sa]
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting, banner
Date
dated to 985
Places
Creation Place: East Asia, China, Gansu province, Dunhuang
Period
Song dynasty, Northern Song period, 960-1127
Culture
Chinese
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/204072

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk. Reportedly retrieved from Dunhuang, Gansu province.
Dimensions
painting proper: H. 99.6 x W. 62.8 cm (39 3/16 x 24 3/4 in.)
mounting overall, including suspension cord and roller ends: H. 153.8 x W. 73 cm (60 9/16 x 28 3/4 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: Dedicatory inscription
  • inscription: A portion of the long inscription translates: "The late teacher, Yuanman, whose earthly name was Zhang, dedicated this with his whole heart."

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Grenville L. Winthrop (1864-1943) purchased from Yamanaka & Co., 1937.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop
Accession Year
1943
Object Number
1943.57.14
Division
Asian and Mediterranean Art
Contact
am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu
Permissions

THIS WORK MAY NOT BE LENT BY THE TERMS OF ITS ACQUISITION TO THE HARVARD ART MUSEUMS.

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Publication History

  • De Ma, 散藏美国的五件敦煌绢画, Dunhuang Research (Lanzhou, Gansu), 1999, Issue 02, pp.170-175, pp.170-175
  • Miyeko Murase, "Kuan-yin as Savior of Men: Illustration of the Twenty-fifth Chapter of the Lotus Sutra in Chinese Painting", Artibus Asiae, Artibus Asiae (Ascona, Switzerland, 1971), XXXIII, no. 1, pp. 39-74, illustrated p. 49, fig. 7
  • Kristin A. Mortimer and William G. Klingelhofer, Harvard University Art Museums: A Guide to the Collections, Harvard University Art Museums and Abbeville Press (Cambridge and New York, 1986), no. 24, p. 30
  • Matthew Brack, "A Technical Study of Portable Tenth-Century Paintings from Dunhuang in US Collections" (thesis (certificate in conservation), Straus Center for Conservation and Technical Studies, 2010), Unpublished, pp. 1-60 passim

Exhibition History

  • 32Q: 2740 Buddhist II, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/15/2016 - 05/31/2017

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Asian and Mediterranean Art at am_asianmediterranean@harvard.edu