Standing Avalokitesvara

700s

Standing Avalokitesvara, 700s. Korea, Unified Silla period (668-935). Gilt-bronze; overall: 18.5 x 6.5 x 4.5 cm (7 5/16 x 2 9/16 x 1 3/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1998.80 This small gilt-bronze statue represents the Bodhisattva of Compassion (관음보살 in Korean), an enlightened being who helps devotees on their path. It features two prominent attributes: a water sprinkler (kundika in Sanskrit) and a miniature image of Buddha Amitābha in its jeweled crown. Its sweet and gentle smile accentuates this celestial being’s immeasurable compassion for human suffering. Created during the Unified Silla period, a high point of the spread of Buddhist teachings, this kind of miniature gilt-bronze statue was often used as a portable object of devotion by traveling Buddhist monks.