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Ivanova E. The images of Avalokiteshvara and Guanyin from the mainland East Asia in the collections of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Russian Academy of Sciences (iconographic forms)

E. Ivanova
 Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0001-7837-7826
E-mail: elivan@kunstkamera.ru; roxyivanova@yandex.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. In 2014 the catalogue 108 images of Buddha was published (by A. F. Dubrovin, E. D. Ogneva, E. V. Ivanova, academic advisor A. A. Terentiev and editor I. A. Alimov), which was devoted to the study of Buddhist sculpture in the collection MAE № 5942, the biggest Buddhist collection in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera). This collection arrived at the museum in 1950 and is stored in the funds of the Department of East and Southeast Asia of the MAE RAS. Following this publication, we plan to publish a second catalogue, which will include the Buddhist sculpture of the mainland East Asia (Tibet, China and Mongolia) from numerous collections that have been arriving to Kunstkamera since its establishment 300 years ago. These collections contain the images of the major categories of deities from the Northern Buddhist pantheon, including bodhisattvas worshipped by the Buddhists of the region. The article looks into the iconographic forms of approximately 50 images of the bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (mostly Chinese, with only some sculptures originating from Mongolia and Tibet). Having examined 27 sculptures, which were identified as the images of the male form of Avalokiteshvara, we distinguished 11 types (each having a specific set of features such as posture, gestures and attributes). Among them 8 appear to be “human” (one-faced and two-handed) and 3 are tantric (with 4 faces and 18 hands; 11 faces and 8 hands). The second part of the article discusses the iconographic forms of the 24 images of Avalokiteshvara represented in the collections of Kunstkamera. As a result of the Sinicization of Buddhism, in China this male bodhisattva of mercy turned into a female deity. The savior of those praying to her from different misfortunes, Guanyin gained remarkable popularity as a fertility goddess. Her cult having interlaced with that of the pre-Buddhist offspring providers Niangniang, Guanyin became, according to V. M. Alekseev, virtually the main deity for the Chinese.

  

KEYWORDS: Kunstkamera, bodhisattva of mercy Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin, gestures, postures, attributes, mainland East Asia, Sinicization of Buddhism

  

DOI 10.31250/2618-8600-2020-1(7)-22-43

УДК 069:39

  

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