The elegant, tall figure dressed in flowing robes with sashes; the left arm extended with closed fist and the right arm lowered with palm open; the serene face with narrow eyes and meditative aura, below high-sculpted arched eyebrows continuing from the straight nose and full sculpted lips, below the hair arranged in sections and piled into a tall chignon; retaining significant traces of gold leaf and black lacquer; single-block construction (ichiboku-zukuri); with later metal stand.
Note:
Kannon is the Japanese name for Avalokiteshvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, a highly esteemed deity in Japanese Buddhism.
A similar, taller Heian period carved cypress standing figure of the Bodhisattva Kannon, now stripped of all lacquer, pigments and gold leaf, is on view at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in Gallery 224, Purchase, Bequest of Mary Stillman Harkness.