YUAN DYNASTY, 14TH CENTURY

It is interesting to note that while Yuan-dynasty figures seated in royal ease in portrayal of the Watermoon Guanyin are typically in keeping to the earlier Song style, the present figure with its curly hair and goatee resembles more to the images of the ascetic Shakyamuni, a popular Buddhist imagery during the Yuan period. Compare two similar examples from the Yuan period depicting the ascetic Shakyamuni, the first from the Cleveland Museum of Art, illustrated in Hai-wai Yi-chen, 'Chinese Art in Overseas Collections, Buddhist Sculpture', National Palace Museum, 1990, p. 171, no. 158; and the other from the Detroit Institute of Arts, illustrated ibid., p. 172, no. 159.