The Child-giving Guanyin

Guanyin is probably the most popular and complex figure of worship in Buddhism. Traditionally there are thought to be a total of 33 representations of the Bodhisattva. Buddhist scriptures always present the Bodhisattva in either masculine or asexual forms. The Guanyin appeared in ancient China in masculine form, sometimes with a thin moustache that clearly indicated his masculine gender. Prior to the Ming period, the representation of the Guanyin, even in female form, never held a child in her hands or placed on her lap. The religious basis for this iconology came from the Buddhist scripture, but the iconography might have been influenced by the image of the Virgin. In the 10th to 16th century A.D., the image of the Guanyin was transformed to that of a completely genuine Chinese goddess. Coastal provinces like Fujien were visited by Jesuit missionaries who also commissioned local carvers for sculptures of the Madonna and Child. They were impressed by the resemblance between the Child-giving Guanyin and that of the Madonna and Child. Their images were often interchangeable. It is not surprising that the Madonnas looked somewhat Chinese and the Guanyins almost "gothic". The image of the Child-giving Guanyin is an indigenous iconography. It was during the 15th to 17th century A.D. that the cult of the Guanyin as the giver of male heirs became firmly established in China. Hence, the Bodhisattva became the beloved "Goddess of Mercy", a nickname coined by these missionaries. Usually sculpted in blanc-de-Chine porcelain and ivory, this small carving of the Child-giving Guanyin (Sung tzu in Chinese) in wood embodies the Bodhisattva's power to grant children, mentioned in the "Universal Gateway" chapter of the Lotus Sutra, a Buddhist ancient scripture. Although this carving is severely fractured and damaged, the facial feature of the Bodhisattva is still intact; the white robe is still recognizable. However, her crown has lost the icon of Amitabha (the Buddha of Pure Land). The face of the small child is completely chipped off. The hands are also missing. The dating of this small wood carving is problematic. It is hard to attribute it to any artistic period in Chinese art, due to the minimal incised lines