{"id":9368,"date":"2024-04-22T08:01:40","date_gmt":"2024-04-22T12:01:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/?p=9368"},"modified":"2024-11-12T16:13:53","modified_gmt":"2024-11-12T21:13:53","slug":"c62-analysis-of-qing-dynasty-representations-of-guanyin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/c62-analysis-of-qing-dynasty-representations-of-guanyin\/","title":{"rendered":"C62: Analysis of Qing Dynasty Representations of Guanyin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Taking as its central object of study a unique painting whose religious subject is expressed in a secular, sensual style, this project aims to explore the idiosyncrasies and intersections of artistic production and religious devotion in late imperial China. Guanyin on a Lotus Leaf (anonymous, 18th century) is the only known meiren hua, or “beautiful woman painting,” that depicts a religious scene. Guanyin (Skr. Avalokiteshvara), the embodiment of compassion, rests on a lotus leaf, watching her attendant Shancai (Sudhana) clamber over rocks to reach her parrot. Her usual attributes, a vase and willow branch, bob in the waters surrounding this charming scene. This painting is notable for its underlying erotic charge, its playfulness and divergence from traditional modes of Buddhist iconography, and its high quality. Scholars have identified two other paintings that may have been produced by the same individual, workshop, or school: Amorous Meeting in a Room Interior and Beautiful Woman in her Boudoir. Through comparative analysis of these three paintings, paired with study of religious texts alongside sociological, religious studies, historical and art historical scholarship, I traced the artistic and religious sources of Guanyin on a Lotus Leaf. As a subject that has been traditionally marginalized in art historical discourse, the study of meiren hua is rich in opportunities for further research. I identified one possibility for future investigation: the use of Guanyin as a strategy by courtesans, and how this differs from the emulation and worship performed by chaste wives. Thanks to the Undergraduate Summer Scholars program, I was able to travel to the museums in which these paintings are housed and study them in person. This behind-the-scenes look at museum practices helped me familiarize myself with my projected future working environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Author: Louise McKinney<\/strong>, Art and Architecture History Major<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Advisor(s): Michael Hatch, Art & Architecture History<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"research<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taking as its central object of study a unique painting whose religious subject is expressed in a secular, sensual style, this project aims to explore the idiosyncrasies and intersections of artistic production and religious devotion in late imperial China. Guanyin on a Lotus Leaf (anonymous, 18th century) is the only known meiren hua, or “beautiful […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":301,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1589,1,25,1327,1593],"tags":[1565,1637,1636,136],"class_list":["post-9368","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-2024-posters","category-projects","category-architecture-interior-design","category-art","category-c61-70","tag-art-history","tag-buddhism","tag-chinese-art","tag-humanities"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbRpLx-2r6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/301"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9368\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.miamioh.edu\/undergraduate-research-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}