ID: 700008994 Page link: http://vocab.getty.edu/page/cona/700008994	Record Type: Movable Work
Images: 1

Guanyin Sutra (painting (visual work); unknown Chinese; ca. 950/1000; Musée Guimet (Paris, Île-de-France, France); )

Note: From Mogao Grottoes Cave 17, Dunhuang, Gansu Province. Hanging painting depicts scenes from chapter 25 of the Lotus Sutra, a sermon on the bodhisattva Guanyin, “Perceiver of the World’s Sounds,” as savior from perils. Here, nestled among energetic landscape features surrounding the standing bodhisattva, four types of misfortune described in the sutra appear as narrative vignettes.They are, from top to bottom and right to left: being pushed offMount Sumeru, attack by fire-breathing beasts, plummeting from a “diamond mountain” ( jingang shan) after pursuit by evildoers, and being driven into a pit of fire. Two donors, identified by inscriptions as an official named Yin Yuanchang and a nun named Xinqing, kneel on carpets at either side of Guanyin’s feet. The black-robed official holds a censer, and the nun offers up a water vessel on a footed plate.

Titles:

Guanyin Sutra (preferred,C,U,DE,English,U,U)

觀音經變 (C,U,Chinese,U,U)

Catalog Level: item

Work Types:

painting (visual work) [300033618] (preferred)

..... (Objects Facet, Visual and Verbal Communication (hierarchy name), Visual Works (hierarchy name), visual works (works), <visual works by material or technique>)

Classifications:

paintings (preferred)

Creation Date: ca. 950/1000

Creator Display:

unknown Chinese [preferred]

scribe unknown Chinese (Chinese cultural designation) [500125222]

Locations:

Other: Discovery: Qianfodong [7029798] Gansu province (province), China (nation), Asia (continent), World (facet) (Geographic)

Repository Numbers: 17665

Current: Musée Guimet (Paris, Île-de-France, France) [500275906] Corporate Bodies (Corp. Body)

Display Materials: Ink and pigments on silk

	pigments [300013109]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, colorant (material))

	ink [300015012]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by function>, coating (material), <coating by form>)

	silk (silkworm material) [300014072]
	.......(Materials Facet, Materials (hierarchy name), materials (substances), <materials by origin>, biological material, animal material, fibroinous material)

Dimensions: 84.1 × 61.2 cm (33 1⁄8 × 24 1⁄16 in.)

Cultures:

Chinese (preferred)

General Subject:

religion and mythology (preferred)

Specific Subjects:

	Guanyin Sutra [901001371]
	.....((Named sutras, Literary works: Philosophy, Religion, Named written and performed works, Literature and Performing Arts)) (ICON)

	savior [300404299]
	.....(Agents Facet, People (hierarchy name), people (agents), <people by activity>) (AAT)

	perils [300404800]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), social science concepts, sociological concepts) (AAT)

	misfortunes [300404801]
	.....(Associated Concepts Facet, Associated Concepts (hierarchy name), social science concepts, sociological concepts) (AAT)

Inscriptions: The four-line verse inscriptions, quoting the Chinese translation of the sutra by the Central Asian monk Kumārajīva promise that each misfortune will be reversed if the imperiled concentrates on the power of Guanyin, who stands beneath an ornamented canopy, a stem of lotus in one hand and a water vessel in the other.

Related Works:

	former location was .... Mogao Cave 17 [700008877]
	..........rock-cut temple; N/A; begun 9th century

List/Hierarchical Position:

..... Movable Works

.......... Movable Works by class: drawings, paintings, prints, other two-dimensional media

............... Works at Mogao

Sources and Contributors:
Guanyin Sutra	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 17
觀音經變	........ [VP]
	........ Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016)

Subject: ....... [VP]

....................... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 17

Note:
English	..... [VP]
	..... Agnew, Reed, Ball, Cave Temples of Dunhuang (2016) Cat 17