Vase with three forms of Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara

The vase is early evidence of the use of ceramics in a Buddhist context. The bulbous body of this small vessel bears three different figures of the bodhisattva of mercy, Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin in Chinese), whose attribute is a bottle with the holy nectar capable of saving supplicants from suffering. The depiction of the bodhisattva on this vase was considerably influenced by Indian models. It is an early type, which preceded the later depiction of Guanyin in the considerably effeminate form, so typical of China.