Chen Yin
Late Ming dynasty (17th century)
Purchased for the museum collection
Designated Cultural Property of Sakata City
Chen Yin (date of birth and death unknown) was a Chinese painter and monk of the Ming dynasty around the mid-seventeenth century. He is said to have been a master painter of Guanyin (known as Kannon in Japan), a Bodhisattva associated with mercy and compassion. Nanga School painters like Chikuden Tanomura and Chokunyū Tanomura also painted Guanyin in the style of Chen Yin. These Buddhist paintings and portraits are extremely realistic and are said to be the origin of the Ōbaku Zen style.
This work depicts the white-robed Guanyin and an accompanying boy, with shadows created by the use of light colors, and their faces and figures filled with compassion and love.