SPEAKER 1: We are here at
the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, looking
at a monumental sculpture of a Bodhisattva. So, Buddha is the main
figure we often see. And there are many Buddhas
in Chinese Buddhist art. There's the historical Buddha,
but lots of other figures. And then there are
also Bodhisattvas, and that's what
we're looking at. And one of the main ways
you can distinguish them is that the Bodhisattva's
often heavily adorned, like this figure is. SPEAKER 2: A Bodhisattva
is an enlightened being that has chosen not
to pursue nirvana, but to remain with ties
to the earthly realm and secure enlightenment, or
release from Samsara, which is the cycle of rebirth
for all sentient beings. So Bodhisattvas are seen
as beings of compassion. SPEAKER 1: So they've decided
to forgo nirvana and be here for us, for a regular
people, to help us to achieve or own nirvana. SPEAKER 2: And they're shown
to have these worldly ties through their princely garb. The iconography of a Buddha
is shown in monk's garb, having relinquished all
ties to the earth, all ties to material things. So you see the Buddha with
the elongated earlobes and the jewels removed. Here we see a Bodhisattva
in princely robes and heavily adorned
with valuable jewels, showing their connection
still to the earth. SPEAKER 1: What's
funny is that this is the Bodhisattva
of compassion. And yet, I don't feel a lot
of identification with it. It's very frontal, it's
very symmetrical and severe and kind of abstracted. And it feels very
distant, in that way. SPEAKER 2: There is a
solemness and a serenity, but there's also a haughtiness
to the facial expression of this image. SPEAKER 1: Exactly. He must be about
15 or 20 feet high. And I imagine it stood
in a temple complex. SPEAKER 2: Yes, it's
huge and frontal, so perhaps it was the
main image for worship in its original location. SPEAKER 1: And often,
these kinds of figures would be shown in
groups within a temple. And this one is so
large that it 's likely that it was the main figure. SPEAKER 2: Often, Bodhisattvas
are shown flanking Buddhas. And they'll have the
weight on one foot, turning towards the Buddha
that they're flanking. And this image is
presented frontally, and often this
Bodhisattva is attributed to being
Avalokiteshvara, Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of compassion. The most popular Bodhisattva
for worship in China under Mahayana type of Buddhism. SPEAKER 1: One of the
ways we would normally identify a Bodhisattva
figure, since there are many Bodhisattvas
representing different ideas, is by what they're holding. But unfortunately,
this sculpture, being from the sixth century,
has suffered a lot of damage and its hands are
no longer with it. And so we don't know what
it held in its hands. SPEAKER 2: Right,
we don't know what the attributes may have been. And Avalokiteshvara,
Guanyin in China, often has the Buddha
Amitabha in the crown. And that's an attribute that
distinguishes it and makes it clear that the iconography
is Avalokiteshvara. But here, the Buddha
image is not there. It's more of a floral crown. So there is some
uncertainty over which Bodhisattva this actually is. SPEAKER 1: It's interesting
how much we can tell about it, but how much of it is still
really in dispute by scholars. And the styles of art
that we see in art history are so often connected to the
historical circumstances, often politics, the government. And we know that the
period just before this was called the
Northern Way, which had a really different style. SPEAKER 2: Yes, what happened is
in the Northern Way, the style that was predominant was
weightless and very linear. Important examples can be
found at the cave temple complex of Yungang,
where in cave six you would see a Buddha
or Bodhisattva image that shows no attention to the body
form, but a lot of attention to the folds and
line of the drapery. And the shapes are weightless. SPEAKER 1: So that period
known as the Northern Way is about 50
years before this, and is a relatively stable
time in parts of China-- SPEAKER 2: Particularly
in the North, absolutely. SPEAKER 1: --and then a period
of political upheaval follows. SPEAKER 2: And the
two strong dynasties that emerge in the north are
the northern Chi in the east and the northern
Chou in the west. And this is a very interesting
Bodhisattva example, when you're thinking
about that time period. There are some
characteristics here that really indicate
the northern Chi, but others that indicate
the northern Chou. And granted, there's
a lot of overlap between the styles of
Buddhas and Bodhisattvas that come out of
these two dynasties. One thing is this
incredible opulence in terms of the drapery
and the jewelry details that are often associated
with the northern Chou. The other aspect
that is northern Chou is the really square
shape to the face, the block-like features. Both the northern Chou
and the northern Chi broke in from this Northern Way
aesthetic of weightlessness, and show the
Bodhisattvas and Buddhas with a lot of three-dimensional
and geometric form. SPEAKER 1: This figure is
anything but weightless. SPEAKER 2: Absolutely,
and you can see it's monumental
and columnar. But it has this
weight and volume. We're looking at
it the way that it would have been
viewed in the temple. We would be looking up at it. And that's why the
head is so oversized. SPEAKER 1: So the
artist would have wanted to make sure we
could really see the head. SPEAKER 2: Yes. SPEAKER 1: And from
far below, one way to do that is to
enlarge the head. SPEAKER 2: And looking at the
facial features in particular, there is a head at the
Metropolitan Museum of Art that is from Xiangtangshan,
a northern Chi site in China. And if you compare
this head, you can see that this is
much more block-like. But when you look at
the lips and the eyes and other aspects of
the facial features, there is a similarity. SPEAKER 1: So we're really
talking about dynasties, different historical periods,
and different regional styles emerging in different places. And art historians
really needing to study each of those places
and the art that emerges. And then comparing and
contrasting to date and to locate a lot of
these early figures. SPEAKER 2: Buddhism
had only come to China a few years earlier from
India, and in that a few years, the styles the developed
for Buddhist art are really dependent on
those different regions and the different dynasties. And therefore, there's
so much change going on. And this is an
interesting example of that because we see
here, this very abrupt break with the weightless, linear
aesthetic of the Northern Way to this much more
volumetric, massive form that is associated
with the northern Chi and the northern Chou. The source for this
change is often identified as Gupta in India. Sensuous Gupta style. SPEAKER 1: It's
really a puzzle-- SPEAKER 2: It is. SPEAKER 1: --in so many ways. So many questions. One thing we know
for sure, because we can see the residue here, is
that the sculpture was painted. And probably painted
many times to keep the color vibrant
over the years. SPEAKER 2: What we're
looking at is probably remnants of Ming dynasty
painting, maybe 16th century, but it would have been
originally painted as well. SPEAKER 1: So it's
important to imagine it in its original context, within
a temple, sensuously painted. And in that kind of
religious spiritual context. SPEAKER 2: Yes, in a much
darker environment, as well. And surrounded by other
sculptures and paintings.