Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara (Suwol Gwaneum do 수월관음도 水月觀音圖)

Korean Art, July 15–September 15, 1981; by Ann Yonemura (shown with F1906.269)

Images of Avalokitesvara [Avalokiteshvara], the bodhisattva associated with compassion, shown with a willow branch and seated on a cluster of rocks near the water, are traditionally held to have first appeared in China during the T'ang [Tang] 唐 dynasty (618–907). Under the influence of Ch'an [Chan] 禪 (Kr. Seon, Jp. Zen) Buddhism, paintings of this subject became very popular, and many examples were carried from China to Korea and Japan during the Sung [Song] 宋 (960–1279) and Yuan 元 (1279–1368) dynasties.

This painting, executed in ink, color, and gold on silk, follows the same Chinese prototype as numerous other surviving examples executed during the late Koryo [Goryeo] 고려 高麗 dynasty. The willow branch is held in a small vase to the side of the bodhisattva. The small figure in a devotional pose may represent an allusion to a passage in the Avatamsaka Sutra. The details of this painting, from the elegant pose of the deity to the delicate use of color to render elements of the costume, are characteristic of Korean Buddhist painting at the peak of its development. Touches of gold highlight the landscapes in a typically decorative manner.

Purchased for Freer in Paris by Seigfried Bing at the 1904 sale of the Charles Gillot collection, this painting was listed in the section of Japanese paintings in the Gillot catalogue. There it carried an erroneous attribution to "Gōdo Ghen 吳道玄 (act. ca. 710–760)," the T'ang [Tang] 唐 dynasty Chinese painter Wu Tao-hsuan [Wu Daoxuan] 吳道玄 (Wu Tao-tzu [Wu Daozi] 吳道子), whose paintings are no longer extant. Despite the illogical attribution to a painter of the mid-8th century, the date proposed for the painting was of the mid-14th century. A paper accompanying the painting seems to indicate that Gillot had purchased the painting from the Japanese dealer, Yamanaka, in 1902.

In Epochs of Chinese and Japanese Art, published in 1912, Ernest F. Fenellosa argued against the attribution to Wu Tao-tzu [Wu Daozi] 吳道子 (act. ca. 710–760) and described the painting in Freer's collection as probably a Sung [Song] 宋 dynasty painting reflecting the style of T'ang [Tang] 唐 painter Yen Li-pen [Yan Liben] 閻立本 (ca. 600–674). Fenellosa regarded the painting as a fine example belonging to the tradition of a famous Avalokitesvara [Avalokiteshvara] in the collection of the Japanese temple Daitokuji 大德寺, which was then attributed to Wu Tao-tzu [Wu Daozi] 吳道子, but is currently identified as a Korean Buddhist painting. Freer's collection inventory describes the painting as "copied in Japan during the XIV century, after a design by Go Doshi (Wu Tao-tzu [Wu Daozi]) 吳道子," and John Ellerton Lodge considered it to be an unimportant work later in date than Sung [Song] 宋. Only in 1965 was the painting identified by James Cahill, Curator of Chinese Art, as Korean, Yi 李 dynasty [also called Joseon 조선 朝鮮 period], 15th century.

Comparison to a number of recently published Koryo [Goryeo] 고려 高麗 dynasty paintings of Avalokitesvara [Avalokiteshvara] shows this painting to possess the style and iconography typical of late Koryo [Goryeo] 고려 高麗 Buddhist paintings. In recent studies by Japanese scholars such as Ueno Aki 上野秋, Koryo [Goryeo] 고려 高麗 Buddhist paintings have been shown to belong to a relatively limited repertoire of iconographic models. Most Korean representations of Avalokitesvara [Avalokiteshvara] follow a specific model, where the deity is seated in a rocky, cave-like setting overlooking water. Below the deity in the pond is a small holy child representing Sudhana, whose pilgrimage to visit many Buddhist deities is described in the Avatamsaka sutra. A bamboo grove appears in the background, and a branch of willow is held in a vase or bowl near the extended right arm of the figure.

Stylistically, the Freer painting is closely related to other surviving 14th-century Korean paintings of this subject, especially one in the Japanese temple Taizanji 泰山寺 in Kobe 神戸 city. Typical Korean stylistic features are the extensive gold highlighting of the undersurfaces of the oddly shaped rocks, the textile patterns on the robes of the figure, including the diaphanous gauze veil, and the double outlines on the red lower garment.

A primary attendant of the Buddha Amitabha, Avalokiteshvara is also worshiped independently as the bodhisattva of mercy. Here the deity—wearing a patterned gauze wrap over flowing garments—sits in a relaxed manner on a rocky outcrop at Potalaka, his island home. This type of image, which first appeared in eighth-century Chinese paintings, is called "Water-Moon Avalokiteshvara" because most examples show the moon and its reflection in the water at the base of the island. In this painting, however, the presence of the moon is more lyrically expressed through golden highlights that suffuse the landscape. The small child in the lower left corner is the young pilgrim Sudhana, who was sent to visit Buddhist bearers of great wisdom.

Goryeo 고려 高麗 Buddhist Paintings: A Closer Look
Inspired by subjects and compositions originating in China, these religious icons illustrate a distinctly Korean achievement that was not duplicated elsewhere in East Asia.

Buddhism was introduced to the Korean peninsula by Chinese monks in the late fourth century CE. Within two hundred years, the faith was flourishing under court patronage that lasted nearly a millennium. These three paintings [S1992.11, F1904.13, and F1906.269] were created during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, toward the end of this long era of royal support. Not made for grand temple halls, in which monumental murals were painted directly on the walls, these detailed images were intended for closer viewing in more intimate settings.

All of the icons in this gallery promise salvation, release from the karmic cycle, and rebirth in a Buddhist heaven, or “Pure Land.” Modern scholars believe that these images were produced both to aid private meditation and to symbolically guide mortal souls to paradise at death. For both functions, the works would have been displayed in close proximity to the believer.

The paintings’ visual appeal results from precise draughtsmanship, saturated mineral pigments, extensive use of gold, and detailed designs representing woven textile patterns. The painters added depth by simulating transparency and translucency, both by adjusting color values—as seen on Kshitigarbha’s “wish-granting jewel” and Avalokiteshvara’s crystal beads—and superimposing gauzy fabrics executed with fine networks of thin white lines. To model surfaces and make them appear more three-dimensional, the artists experimented with applying pigment to both sides of the silk surface, allowing the viewer’s eye to blend the colors and visualize more rounded forms.