Ref: V404
£ 3,500
Price is subject to availability and market conditions.
Chinese Blanc de Chine figure of Guanyin and her attendants, c.1680, the bodhisattva seated upon a rockwork base between a vase and a bird with a child on her lap, attended by two acolytes at her feet with a pair of writhing dragons and blooming lotus inbetween; her bare left foot visible at the hem of her flowing mantle, with a lotus head to her chest, elongated earlobes and a tall chignon with a mantle and crown containing a miniature image of the Amitabha Buddha
Condition:
Chip to headdress, two small chips to fingers of both child and Guanyin, small chips to branches and to the end of the bird's wings
Notes:
The Chinese manifestation of the bodhisattva Avalokitesvara is known as ‘Guanyin’, an abbreviation of ‘Guanshiuin’, which roughly translates to ‘[The One Who] Perceives the Sounds of the World’. She is often depicted with a child, as seen here. Jesuit missionaries, upon arriving in China, were impressed by the obvious visual links between Guanyin and the Madonna of Christianity, but it is important to remember that the ‘Child-Giving Guanyin’ (sung-tzu) is a iconographic variation of the deity which originated in China. This association of Guanyin with the production of male heirs gained popularity in China from the 15th century and refers to the ‘Universal Gateway’ chapter of the Lotus Sutra.
