The Guanyin decorated in the famille verte palette, wearing a long robe and clock over head, and is modeled with a serene expression on her face.
The Guanyin decorated in the famille verte palette, wearing a long robe and clock over head, and is modeled with a serene expression on her face.
For an identical Guanyin (provenance Ralph M. Chait Galleries, New York), from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, see Sotheby’s New York. Embracing Classic Chinese Culture: Kangxi Porcelain from the Jie Rui Tang Collection, March 14, 2014, p. 55.
In the context of East Asian Buddhism, Guanyin is a Bodhisattva associated with compassion. The Chinese characters that make up “Guanyin” specifically means “observer of sounds” (guan = observe; yin = sounds), conveying the belief that Guanyin is a listener of suffering sounds, and thus a tenderer of the world’s troubles. For this reason, most depictions of Guanyin in Chinese art feature the Bodhisattva looking downward, as if to watch over the mortal realms.