Abstract
In the Rijksmuseum collection there is a painting depicting the Buddhist deity Water-Moon Avalokite´svara. The identification and dating of this painting are complex. It had long been considered to be a Chinese work of the Song Dynasty and dated to the twelfth century; later it was regarded as a Chinese work from the Yuan Dynasty and dated to the fourteenth century; more recently opinion shifted and it was seen as a Korean Buddhist painting from the Goryeo Dynasty and dated to the first half of the fourteenth century. This essay aims to serve as a fundamental research by examining the iconography and style of this painting in detail. The author argues on the basis of style that this painting is a late fourteenth-century Japanese hybrid creation that combines both Chinese iconography and the colouring of Chinese Song Buddhist painting with decorative elements of Korean Goryeo Buddhist painting. In light of the recent research into the inter-regional connection of East Asian Buddhist image production, the Rijksmuseum Water-Moon Avalokite´svaraprovides an example of the artistic interactions between China, Korea and Japan in the fourteenth century.
Highlights
I n the field of East Asian art history, increasing attention has been devoted in the last few decades to Korean Buddhist painting produced during the Goryeo Dynasty (892-1392)
Verburgt (1871-1926), one of the leading members of the Vereniging van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst, the Asian Art Society in the Netherlands, from the Berlin art dealer Edgar Worch in 1929.6 The Verburgt collection was donated to the vvak in 1968, and its collection has been on display in the Rijksmuseum since 1952.7 The painting featured in the special exhibition of Asian Art from private and public collections in the Netherlands, organized by the vvak and staged at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from 5 July to 4 October 1936
The iconography of the Water-Moon Avalokitesvara in the pose of royal ease the rijksmuseum bulletin first appeared in the Song Dynasty around the eleventh century in two forms: in both the deity is depicted seated, with one arm supporting his body while the other rests on a raised knee; they differ in that in one form the other leg is left hanging and in the other both legs are crossed
Summary
I n the field of East Asian art history, increasing attention has been devoted in the last few decades to Korean Buddhist painting produced during the Goryeo Dynasty (892-1392). True Identity: Reconsidering a Fourteenth-Century Buddhist Painting of the Water-Moon Avalokitesvara in the Rijksmuseum
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