Antique Hand Carved Wood Guanyin Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion

Description

Early 20th Century Hand Carved Wood Guanyin Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion

13 W x 8 D x 19.5 … more Early 20th Century Hand Carved Wood Guanyin Chinese Goddess of Mercy and Compassion

13 W x 8 D x 19.5 H

I bought this piece in Washington DC from a lifelong collector of Asian antiquities who had lived with her husband in China for most of their adult and professional lives. After his passing, she began parting with a small number of fine Chinese antiques they had collected over many decades.

This is a lovely, large, highly detailed wood carving of a seated Guanyin holding a lotus flower. Her forehead is created with some type of wood resin. The rest of her intricately detailed face, head, and body is carved from a single piece of wood. She is missing parts of two fingers on her left hand.

In Chinese mythology, Guanyin is the beloved goddess of mercy, compassion and unconditional love who can hear and see ALL. Followers of East Asian Buddhism believe Lady Guanyin to be the protector of women and children, the sick and infirm, the poor and downtrodden. She is often worshipped as a fertility goddess. A number of other beliefs and superstitions revolve around her mythology as the bodhisattva Avolokitesvara. less