A rare wood shrine of ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin, Song - Yuan dynasty | 宋至元 木雕水月觀音像龕

Acquired in Japan in the 1980s.

The MQ Collection, As I Have Seen: Chinese Ancient Sculpture, Taipei, 2015, pp. 90-97, cat. no. 11.

Rendered in the ‘royal ease’ posture (lalitāsana), the bodhisattva sits on a mattress inside a rock-strewn cave, which identifies the figure as ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin. The image of ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin first appeared in the mid-Tang period after Zhou Fang (c. 8th - early 9th century) painted a Guanyin seated in the ‘royal ease’ posture before water, inspired by accounts in Datang Xiyu Ji / Records of the Western Regions. Lidai Minghua Ji / Famous Paintings through the Ages held Zhou Fang’s creation in high regard, and the style became a popular standard of this character in the ensuing Song dynasty.

According to Datang Xiyu Ji, ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin sojourned in a rocky mountain. The naturalistic treatment of Buddhist imagery in the Song dynasty is not only embodied in the present Guanyin but also encapsulated in the rock cave in which the figure sits.

Compare a wood carving of ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin seated on rocks, from the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, in George Eumorfopoulos Collection, London, 1925-1929, vol. 3, pp. 62-63. For a similar posture, see a figure in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, dated to the Liao dynasty (907-1125), accession no. 28.56, illustrated in Denise Patry Leidy and Donna Strahan, Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven, 2010, cat. no. 24. Figures of ‘Water Moon’ Guanyin in portable sizes, enshrined in rock caves like the present one, are very rare; compare one with the Guanyin seated in lotus position (padmasana), dated to the Five Dynasties (907-960), also in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, ibid., cat.no. 21.

來源

1980年間購於日本

出版

《如是我見：莫勸齋藏中國古代雕刻》，台北，2015年，頁90-97，編號11

此木雕構思新巧，於岩洞内安菩薩一尊，半跏坐於團蓆之上，呈「自在坐」，可知為水月觀音。菩薩寳冠束髮，天衣及地，瓔珞通身，氣韻自在安恬。

水月觀音為三十三觀音之一，其塑繪形象初見於中唐，由周昉（8世紀-9世紀初）依《大唐西域記》所載而創，《歷代名畫記》稱周昉「妙創水月之體」；此形象中，觀音臨水宴坐，多以岩石、草木爲伴。宋代（960-1279年）以來，格物致知思潮發展，藝術風格趨向寫實，佛菩薩形象洗蛻前朝華麗風貌，尤重意境清靈悠遠。

據《大唐西域記》，「……有布呾洛迦山，山徑危險，巖谷欹傾，山頂有池，其水澄鏡……池側有石天宮，觀自在菩薩往來遊舍」，又據《華嚴經》，「南方有山，名補怛洛迦；彼有菩薩，名觀自在」；「布呾洛迦」、「補怛洛迦」等名，漢化即是「普陀」。東海海上有山，形貌與「普陀」景象吻合，宋人名之普陀山，並於嘉定七年（1214年）正式確立其為觀世音菩薩道場。普陀山山靈水秀，幽洞遍佈，造像依此寫實，岩洞水月觀音遂成該時代典型。

木雕水月觀音，坐於岩上者，可參考倫敦維多利亞與艾伯特博物館藏例，刊《George Eumorfopoulos Collection》，倫敦，1925-1929年，卷3，頁62-63；右膝曲起、左足半趺者，可參考紐約大都會藝術博物館藏例，斷為遼代（907-1125年），藏品編號28.56，錄 Denise Patry Leidy 與 Donna Strahan，《Wisdom Embodied: Chinese Buddhist and Daoist Sculpture in the Metropolitan Museum of Art》，紐黑文，2010年，編號24。此尊尺寸小巧，且以岩洞為龕，實不多見，可尋一例，斷為五代（907-960年），岩洞內觀音結跏趺坐，亦藏紐約大都會藝術博物館，前述出處，編號21。