Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara
Angkor period, 11th century
- Medium
- Sandstone
- Classification
- Sculpture
- Dimensions
- 45.1 × 25.4 × 9.9 cm (17 3/4 × 10 × 3 7/8 in.)
- Culture
- Southeast Asia
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Arts of Asia
- Credit line
- Gift of Marilynn B. Alsdorf
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Tweens profiles and older: its subjects are known and suit older children. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
This fragmented sandstone sculpture depicts Avalokiteshvara, the four-armed Bodhisattva of compassion, from the 11th-century Angkor period. Carved in the elegant Baphuon style, it features a high-tied sampot (male wrap garment), a serene face, and a small seated Buddha Amitabha in the chignon—crucial for its identification. Likely once part of a worship triad, the sculpture’s exact origins remain unknown, reflecting the difficulties of tracing displaced artifacts from this period.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
