This elegant eastern Javanese portrayal of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara depicts the deity in the posture of royal ease (maharajalila asana). This iconographic form is more typically associated with Chinese Pure Land Buddhism images of the Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara in his Water Moon Form (Shuiyue Guanyin). For example, see an 11th-century wooden image from China in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (28.56). Avalokiteshvara is represented in this mode when he resides in his mythical abode on Mount Potalaka, which has been variously identified as being located on an island south of India; as Mount Pothigai (or Potiyil) in Tirunelveli District, Tamil Nadu; or as Mount Putuo, an island off the coast of Zhejiang Province, China.
Avalokiteshvara’s right hand (now missing) was likely extended in a relaxed position resting on his knee with the palm facing downward and the fingers open. His left hand is placed flat on the ground to support his torso. He has a tiered hat with a pointed peak and a tiara in front. He wears abundant jewelry and a robe over his left shoulder. He has a prominent circular forehead marking (urna) indicating his enlightenment.
Chinese merchant immigrants and their descendants have lived in Indonesia, especially eastern Java, since at least the 13th century. Pratapaditya Pal has speculated that this earthenware sculpture may have been based on a pilgrim’s votive model of a Chinese image fashioned in this distinctive posture. (Pal 1987, 74-75, no. 38). For a later Burmese form of Avalokiteshvara seated in this pose, see AC1995.103.1.
