YUAN DYNASTY (1271-1368)

The modelling of the present figure seated at ease with the left leg pendent is often termed by the name of the Water Moon Guanyin or Nanhai Guanyin (the Avalokitesvara of the Southern Seas). Both names refer to the Guanyin residing at Mount Potalaka on the southern coast of India. This imagery was introduced into China with the translation of the Avatamsaka (Huayan) sutra in the early 5th century.
Compare to a later gilt-bronze figure of Guanyin which is slightly smaller (38.7 cm. high) but remarkably similar in posture and style, formerly in the Nitta Collection, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 April 1998, lot 601 (fig. 1).