Lot Essay
There are fourteen nearly identical 14th century paintings of the Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara in Japanese collections: one is in Korea. One of the paintings is signed and dated 1323. All are in temples or shrines with the exception of one in a private collection. Five of these are registered Important Cultural Properties. (See Kikutake Jun'ichi and Yoshida Hiroshi, Koryo Butsuga [Koryo Buddhist Painting], Tokyo: Asahi Shimbunsha, 1981, plates 32-45). There are also three paintings of this type in American collections, one in the Fogg Art Museum (1943.57.12), one in the Freer Gallery of Art (Korean Culture, June 1983, cover illustration), and one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art (see Hongnam Kim, "Korean Art in Western Collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art," Korean Culture 6, 1 [March 1985], pl. 4 and pp. 9-10; also Hongnam Kim, The Story of a Painting: A Korean Buddhist Treasure from the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation [New York: The Asia Society, 1991] , fig. 37, no.12). Another example is in the Museum fur Ostasiatische Kunst in Cologne.
The Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara (Yoryu Kannon) was widely worshipped in Korea during the late Koryo period. Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion, is seated in a relaxed, contemplative pose of "royal ease", on a ledge in a rocky grotto that overhangs an expanse of water. Stems of red coral rise from the water, suggesting that this is Mount Potalaka, the sacred island paradise of Avalokitesvara as described in the Avatamsaka sutra of the Hwa Om (Chinese, "Hua Yen"; Japanese, "Kegon") sect of Buddhism, which was founded in China in the 7th century and quickly spread to both Korea and Japan. The heavily bejewelled, golden figure wears a red garment with lotus pattern, and is covered with a diaphanous white veil with large circular medallions. There is a double halo - one behind the head and a larger full-body halo. The transparent veil, rich patterning of the clothing, and elegant, fluid lines of the drapery are typical of Koryo Buddhist painting.
Most Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara paintings have been cropped and repainted; in some cases the entire background has been replaced with new silk. This painting has been considerably cut down at the left side and the bottom, and there is some repainting. At the left side, just above the right hand of the deity, a ritual water container (kundika) holding a willow branch, symbolic of the deity's healing power, would have been set on a rock ledge. The bamboo trees normally found on the right-hand side of Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara paintings may also have been cropped. The deity's right hand, which has been repainted, originally held a rosary. The bodhisattva looks down toward a now lost figure of the boy Sudhana, the archtypal pilgrim who, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, sought out the deity in his island paradise. This figure was lost when the painting was cut down. The last portion of the Avatamsaka Sutra is the Gandvyuha, the story of this young boy's travels in search of supreme truth, a sort of Buddhist pilgrim's progress.
The popularity of this image in Korea was partly inspired by a tradition recorded in the thirteenth-century Koryo historical chronicle, Samguk-yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms). According to legend, the famous seventh-century monks Uisang (625-702) and Wonhyo, who transmitted Hwa Om Buddhism to Korea, located Avalokitesvara in a cave in Naksan, a mountain near the East Sea in Korea. Uisang built a hall next to the cave to worship the deity. Known as Avalokitesvara Cave, it became a pilgrimage site during the Koryo period.
The Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara (Yoryu Kannon) was widely worshipped in Korea during the late Koryo period. Avalokitesvara, Bodhisattva of Compassion, is seated in a relaxed, contemplative pose of "royal ease", on a ledge in a rocky grotto that overhangs an expanse of water. Stems of red coral rise from the water, suggesting that this is Mount Potalaka, the sacred island paradise of Avalokitesvara as described in the Avatamsaka sutra of the Hwa Om (Chinese, "Hua Yen"; Japanese, "Kegon") sect of Buddhism, which was founded in China in the 7th century and quickly spread to both Korea and Japan. The heavily bejewelled, golden figure wears a red garment with lotus pattern, and is covered with a diaphanous white veil with large circular medallions. There is a double halo - one behind the head and a larger full-body halo. The transparent veil, rich patterning of the clothing, and elegant, fluid lines of the drapery are typical of Koryo Buddhist painting.
Most Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara paintings have been cropped and repainted; in some cases the entire background has been replaced with new silk. This painting has been considerably cut down at the left side and the bottom, and there is some repainting. At the left side, just above the right hand of the deity, a ritual water container (kundika) holding a willow branch, symbolic of the deity's healing power, would have been set on a rock ledge. The bamboo trees normally found on the right-hand side of Willow-Branch Avalokitesvara paintings may also have been cropped. The deity's right hand, which has been repainted, originally held a rosary. The bodhisattva looks down toward a now lost figure of the boy Sudhana, the archtypal pilgrim who, according to the Avatamsaka Sutra, sought out the deity in his island paradise. This figure was lost when the painting was cut down. The last portion of the Avatamsaka Sutra is the Gandvyuha, the story of this young boy's travels in search of supreme truth, a sort of Buddhist pilgrim's progress.
The popularity of this image in Korea was partly inspired by a tradition recorded in the thirteenth-century Koryo historical chronicle, Samguk-yusa (Memorabilia of the Three Kingdoms). According to legend, the famous seventh-century monks Uisang (625-702) and Wonhyo, who transmitted Hwa Om Buddhism to Korea, located Avalokitesvara in a cave in Naksan, a mountain near the East Sea in Korea. Uisang built a hall next to the cave to worship the deity. Known as Avalokitesvara Cave, it became a pilgrimage site during the Koryo period.