female figure in flowing white robes leaning over a rock, watching waves crash against the rock; waterfall in background; halo around figure

White-Robed Kannon [center of a triptych of White-Robed Kannon and Cranes], 1664

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Avalokiteshvara, known in Japanese as Kannon, is one of the most popular deities in Zen Buddhism. From the 1300s through the 1500s, Zen painters in Japan frequently created monochrome ink paintings of Kannon relaxing in nature. Nearly 200 years later, a professional painter, Kano Tan’yū, borrowed from this long tradition for this triptych, showing the deity in the center resting on a boulder beneath a waterfall and gazing down at the waves below. As is common with devotional triptychs, the central deity is flanked by complementary images of birds, in this case cranes with bamboo and a pine tree.

Details
Title
White-Robed Kannon [center of a triptych of White-Robed Kannon and Cranes]
Artist Life
1602 - 1674
Role
Artist
Accession Number
2015.79.63.2
Catalogue Raisonne
Murase, Art through a Lifetime, no. 148
Curator Approved

This record has been reviewed by our curatorial staff but may be incomplete. These records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you notice a mistake or have additional information about this object, please email collectionsdata@artsmia.org.

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female figure in flowing white robes leaning over a rock, watching waves crash against the rock; waterfall in background; halo around figure