J.J. Lally & Co., Oriental Art / New York City, New York

A similarly modelled gilt bronze figure of Guanyin on a stepped four-legged dais in the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. is illustrated by Munsterberg, Chinese Buddhist Bronzes, Tokyo, 1967, pl. 69.

Another bronze figure of Guanyin in the same pose but lacking both the rockwork back and the dais is illustrated in Gugong bowuyuan lidai yishuguan chenliepin tumu (Illustrated Catalogue of the Art Displayed at the Palace Museum), Beijing, 1991, p. 293, fig. 805. The same figure is also illustrated in Wenwu cangpin dingji biaozhun tuli: zaoxiang juan (Illustrated Important Chinese Cultural Relics Ranking Standard: Religious Sculptures), Beijing, 2011, p. 220, no. 170.

The stylized rockwork grotto and the posture of royal ease are associated with the avatar of Guanyin known as the South Sea (Nanhai) Guanyin, also referred to as the Water-Moon (Shuiyue) Guanyin. The cult of the South Sea or Water-Moon Guanyin arose in China in the Tang dynasty and became widely popular in paintings, literature and sculpture during the Song dynasty. Mount Potalaka, Guanyin’s mountain home described in the Avatamsaka sutra, became identified in China with Mount Putuo, on a small island at the mouth of Hangzhou Bay, near Ningbo, Zhejiang province. Mount Putuo is known as one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Buddhism.