The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

Description The last great king of Angkor, Jayavarman VII, turned away from the Hinduism of his predecessors and adopted Mahayana ("great vehicle") Buddhism. He thought of the bodhisattva (eventual Buddha) Avalokiteshvara, embodiment of compassion, as his spiritual father and identified his own father with him. Avalokiteshvara has a small image of the Buddha of the western paradise on his headdress.

Exhibitions

• Unearthly Elegance: Buddhist Art from the Griswold Collection. The Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. 1995.

Provenance New Road, Bangkok, prior to August 1949; Alexander B. Griswold, Monkton, August 1949, by purchase [presented to the Breezewood Foundation, December 1960, inv. no. 458]; Walters Art Museum, 1992, by bequest.

Inscriptions none

Credit Bequest of A. B. Griswold, 1992