Lot 37
TWO DEHUA FIGURES OF GUANYIN BESTOWING A SON
QING DYNASTY, 19TH CENTURY
Fine Asian & Islamic Works of Art | 713
Auction: 4 November 2022 at 10:00 GMT
Description
清 德化白瓷送子觀音像（共兩件）
each similarly moulded in mirrored images as the gently smiling Avalokiteshvara standing upright holding a babe on her arm, she wears a long hooded robe open at the chest to reveal beaded cross necklace, one with slightly bulging breast standing on cloud and the other on two mythical beast heads
Dimensions
44cm high each
Provenance
Provenance: From a Scottish country house collection
Footnote
Note: Despite the conventionality of the feminine facial features referring to the traditional image of Bodhisattva of Compassion, also known as Avalokitesvara and Guanyin, this pair of figural groups is also potentially depicting Madonna and Child. The first depiction of Madonna and Child in China is a painting dated to the late Ming Dynasty and is now in The Field Museum, Chicago, accession number [1114]. Though argued to have been based on the image Salus populi romani in the Borghese Chapel of Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome, it bears a strong resemblance to Guanyin, one of whose incarnations is Songzi Guanyin- Guanyin the Bringer of Sons, or Guanyin Bestowing a Son, always depicted with a child. Compare this pair to a smaller Blanc De Chine Virgin Mary Holding the Infant Jesus, dated to Qing dynasty, Kangxi Period, was sold by Robert McPherson Antiques, stock number 229821. Note the similarity of the mythical beast podium with one of the examples offered here, and the relatively elongated ratio of the infant. Another related Dehua standing figure of Madonna and Child, in a more Europeanised rendition, is in the collection of the British Museum, museum number 1980,0728.91.