Buffalo horn carving of Guanyin
Wanli mark and period, 1573 – 1619
Height: 18.2 cm | 7 3/16 in
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The Bodhisattva is depicted seated on an elephant, and is carved in the round. She looks down at a young boy attendant who makes an offering of a vase that contains a coral sprig. The Bodhisattva is dressed in a long flowing robe, and a scarf that billows in the wind. A ruyi sceptre is held in her left hand, and her hair is tied up above the head in a double topknot. The hollow interior is sealed by a brown lacquered wood base – the centre of which bears a six-character Wanli mark of the period, written in gold and framed by an irregular double gold line around the edge.
Similar examples: Chinese Art Volume III, by R. Soame Jenyns edited by William Watson, Phaidon, Oxford, 1981 – no. 147 illustrates a horn figure of Guanyin that is marked in the same way.
The Arts of China after 1620 by William Watson and Chuimei Ho, Yale University Press, 2007 – figure 128 illustrates a standing buffalo horn figure of Guanyin, from The Field Museum, Chicago.
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