Hardwood Carving Kwan Yin 绿檀

CHINESE LIGNUM VITAE 绿檀 CARVING OF KWAN YIN - VINTAGE

A superbly carved large, heavy wood 绿檀 carving of Kwan Yin.
A halo behind her head with a phoenix.
Standing on a coiled dragon, curling waves, large lotus leaf , lotus buds and flower.
Her right hand holding the bottle of oil her left hand holding the branch of willow.

Carved from Lignum Vitae
Regarded as one of the heaviest and hardest woods in the world, prized for its self-lubricating properties.
It is also endangered.

Signed

Refer Large Images for details, quality and condition, they also form the description.

Depending on your computer monitor / phone / etc colour may vary to actual.

Dimensions are maximum measurements

Condition: Excellent, (a couple of Not noticeable minor repairs)

Height About : 93.5 cm
Weight About: 10.2 kg

A$2500

One of the deities most frequently seen on altars in China’s temples is Quan Yin (also spelled Kwan Yin, Kuanyin; in pinyin, Guanyin).

In Sanskrit, her name is Padma-pâni, or "Born of the Lotus." Quan Yin, alone among Buddhist gods, is loved rather than feared and is the model of Chinese beauty.

Regarded by the Chinese as the goddess of mercy, she was originally male until the early part of the 12th century and has evolved since that time from her prototype, Avalokiteshvara, "the merciful lord of utter enlightment," an Indian bodhisattva who chose to remain on earth to bring relief to the suffering rather than enjoy for himself the ecstasies of Nirvana.

One of the several stories surrounding Quan Yin is that she was a Buddhist who through great love and sacrifice during life, had earned the right to enter Nirvana after death.

However, like Avlokiteshvara, while standing before the gates of Paradise she heard a cry of anguish from the earth below. Turning back to earth, she renounced her reward of bliss eternal but in its place found immortality in the hearts of the suffering.

In China she has many names and is also known as "great mercy, great pity; salvation from misery, salvation from woe; self-existent; thousand arms and thousand eyes," etc.
In addition she is often referred to as the Goddess of the Southern Sea — or Indian Archipelago — and has been compared to the Virgin Mary.

She is one of the San Ta Shih, or the Three Great Beings, renowned for their power over the animal kingdom or the forces of nature. These three Bodhisattvas or P’u Sa as they are know in China, are namely Manjusri (Skt.) or Wên Shu, Samantabhadra or P’u Hsien, and Avalokitesvara or Quan Yin.