This Plate shows the remaining upper portion of a large silk painting
(Ch. 00451, scale one-third) which represented Avalokiteśvara standing
without attendants. Considerably broken as the painting is and injured
in its surface, we recognize in it a fine pendant to the Avalokiteśvara
picture reproduced in Plate XXI. Here, too, we see a figure of the
conventional ‘Indian’ Bodhisattva type imbued with that grace and
refined quality which Chinese mastery of fluid line and reposeful
design is specially able to impart.
The physical type and the pose of the body, with its inclination to
the left shoulder, closely correspond to those seen in Plate XXI. But
here this line is counterbalanced by the pose of the head, which leans
gently over the right shoulder. The eyes are turned back to the left
proper and look down with an expression of mildness and compassion.
They are almost straight, and the recurving line added to the eyelids
is here absent. Of the willow spray in the right hand only a few faint
indications remain.
The dress, jewellery, and colouring agree closely with those displayed
by the figure in Plate XXI. But more remains here of the white shaded
with pink which is used for the colouring of the body. The nimbus
is made up of plain circular rings of dark olive, red, and white.
The Chinese inscription of the cartouche to the right still awaits
interpretation.