Standing Bodhisattva
date: label: Date
content: 550-577
label: Period
content: Northern Qi dynasty
notes: label: Provenance
content: Originally located in Cave 2, southern Xiangtangshan, Hebei province, China. [1]
label: Provenance
content: 1914
label: Provenance
content: Charles Vignier (1863-1934), Paris and C. T. Loo (1880-1957), Paris, in April 1914. [2]
label: Provenance
content: From at least 1916 to 1968
label: Provenance
content: Eugene Meyer (1875-1959) and Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970), New York, Washington, DC, and Mt. Kisco, NY, purchased from C. T. Loo, not later than March 13, 1916. [3]
label: Provenance
content: From 1968
label: Provenance
content: Freer Gallery of Art, given by Agnes E. Meyer in 1968. [4]
label: Provenance
content: Notes:
label: Provenance
content: [1] The removal of the sculpted figures and fragments from the Xiangtangshan caves began ca. 1909 at the time of political upheaval in China and continued throughout several decades, see http://xts.uchicago.edu/, accessed on August 2010. See also J. Keith Wilson and Daisy Yiyou Wang, "The Early-Twentieth-Century 'Discovery' of the Xiangtangshan Caves," in Katherine R. Tsiang et al., Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan, exh. cat. (Chicago: Smart Museum of Art; Washington, DC: Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, 2010), pp. 106-129 and Katherine R. Tsiang and J. Keith Wilson, "Catalogue of Works in the Exhibition," in Katherine R. Tsiang et al., Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan, 2010, pp. 208-209, cat. no. 22 (ill.).
label: Provenance
content: [2] The sculpture was published in April 1914 as owned by Charles Vignier, a symbolist poet, dealer, and collector, see "Early Chinese Sculpture," The Burlington Magazine for Connoisseurs vol. 25, no. 133 (April 1914), pp. 40, 43 (pl. 2, D). C. T. Loo shared with Vignier the ownership of this and other Xiangtangshan sculptures published in the Burlington Magazine article. According to Loo, it was his Beijing office that secured the sculptures in China, see C. T. Loo, "Preface" in C. T. Loo and Co., An Exhibition of Chinese Stone Sculptures (New York: C. T. Loo and Co., 1940), np.
label: Provenance
content: See also J. Keith Wilson and Daisy Yiyou Wang 2010, pp. 107-108.
label: Provenance
content: [3] See Eugene Meyer’s letter to S. C. Bosch-Reitz, dated March 13, 1916, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives, New York. In the letter, Meyer stated that he had acquired the sculpture recently and offered to loan it to the Metropolitan Museum. See also Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin vol. 11, no. 5 (May 1916), p. 120-121 and C. T. Loo, "Preface" in C. T. Loo and Co. 1940. The sculpture was returned to the Meyers probably by the end of 1916; the Meyers lent it again to the Metropolitan Museum from 1923 to 1934. See correspondence between Agnes E. Meyer and S. C. Bosch-Reitz, September 1923 and correspondence between Agnes E. Meyer and H. E. Winlock, November 1934, Metropolitan Museum of Art Archives. The sculpture was published in Osvald Sirén, Chinese Sculpture From the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century (London: Benn, Ltd., 1925), vol. 1, p. 129, vol. 4, pl. 472.
label: Provenance
content: [4] See Agnes E. Meyer's Deed of Gift, dated July 24, 1967, where the sculpture is listed as no. 29 in the document's Annex, copy in object file. The object was accessioned to the Freer Gallery's collection in 1968.
label: Collection
content: Freer Gallery of Art Collection
label: Exhibition History
content: Promise of Paradise (October 14, 2017 - ongoing)
label: Exhibition History
content: Promise of Paradise: Early Chinese Buddhist Sculpture (December 1, 2012 to January 3, 2016)
label: Exhibition History
content: Echoes of the Past: The Buddhist Cave Temples of Xiangtangshan (February 26, 2011 to January 6, 2013)
label: Exhibition History
content: Buddhist Art (May 9, 1993 to August 9, 2011)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art—Stone Sculpture (September 1, 1979 to March 14, 1982)
label: Exhibition History
content: Chinese Art (January 1, 1963 to March 6, 1981)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Charles Vignier (1863-1934)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: C. T. Loo 盧芹齋 (1880-1957)
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
label: Previous custodian or owner
content: Agnes E. Meyer (1887-1970)
place: label: Origin
content: southern Xiangtangshan, Cave 2, Hebei province, China
topic: label: Topic
content: stone
label: Topic
content: Buddhism
label: Topic
content: bodhisattva
label: Topic
content: Avalokiteshvara
label: Topic
content: Northern Qi dynasty (550 - 577)
label: Topic
content: lotus
label: Topic
content: Guanyin
label: Topic
content: temple
label: Topic
content: cave
label: Topic
content: China
label: Topic
content: Chinese Art
setName: label: On View
content: West Building (Freer Gallery of Art), Gallery 17: Promise of Paradise
label: Related Online Resources
content: Google Arts & Culture
label: See more items in
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Collection
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Gift of Eugene and Agnes E. Meyer
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
identifier: label: Accession Number
content: F1968.45
objectType: label: Type
content: Sculpture
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: CC0
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: Limestone with traces of pigment
label: Dimensions
content: H x W x D (overall): 172.5 x 51.8 x 42.9 cm (67 15/16 x 20 3/8 x 16 7/8 in)