This accomplished painting on silk, dating from the mid-tenth century, shows Avalokiteśvara in a popular Chinese form, the so-called Water and Moon Guanyin ('the great compassionate bodhisattva, saviour of those in distress, reflector of the moon in the water'
). Note the elaborate canopy above him (see cat. nos. 223, 224) below which can be seen the king and two attendants on a small cloud. The iconography is clearly Chinese, indicated by the bamboo which is not found around Dunhuang.
Ink and colours on paper
The British Museum, 1919,0101,0.15 (Ch.i.009)