A Chinese Guan-yin, looking rather Madonna--ish (meaning Mary, not the singer), complete with the Crucifix-ish jewelry ...
The scholars' speculations on the original of this style:
Gassho, J
STLah
The scholars' speculations on the original of this style:
Yi.i (1990a: 81) considers that in China there was a strong influence of Christianity on the
Child Giving Guanyin by Christian missionaries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
But rather than missionary activity influencing images of Guanyin, it appears to have been trade
activity. Ivory images of the Virgin Mary were commissioned from Zhangzhou, on the south east
coast of China, by the Spanish in the mid-sixteenth century after they had conquered the
Philippines. These figures were styled after the Gothic ivory images which were to be seen in
Europe (Watson ed.1984: 39-41 ). The Chinese sculptors saw the opportunity for expanding the
market by modifYing the images to look like Guanyin. By removing the cross from the rosary and
replacing it with a tassel, by taking away the dove or orb from the child's hand and making the
features 'Chinese', Mary was easily turned into Guanyin (see Plate 82). This influence has led to
the speculation that it was the iconography of the Virgin Mary that was responsible for the long
white veil and the child in the arms ofGuanyin. Certainly there was a profusion of white porcelain
figures of Guanyin produced in Fujian province and modem figures in white porcelain can still be
seen in Southeast Asia to this day. The image shown in Plate 83, from my own collection, bears
a cross which has obviously been influenced by Christianity. Yet production of this type of
image indicate that images of Songzi Guanyin were already in existence and the sculptors knew
they would have a ready market for these new-style Guanyin figures.
Child Giving Guanyin by Christian missionaries during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
But rather than missionary activity influencing images of Guanyin, it appears to have been trade
activity. Ivory images of the Virgin Mary were commissioned from Zhangzhou, on the south east
coast of China, by the Spanish in the mid-sixteenth century after they had conquered the
Philippines. These figures were styled after the Gothic ivory images which were to be seen in
Europe (Watson ed.1984: 39-41 ). The Chinese sculptors saw the opportunity for expanding the
market by modifYing the images to look like Guanyin. By removing the cross from the rosary and
replacing it with a tassel, by taking away the dove or orb from the child's hand and making the
features 'Chinese', Mary was easily turned into Guanyin (see Plate 82). This influence has led to
the speculation that it was the iconography of the Virgin Mary that was responsible for the long
white veil and the child in the arms ofGuanyin. Certainly there was a profusion of white porcelain
figures of Guanyin produced in Fujian province and modem figures in white porcelain can still be
seen in Southeast Asia to this day. The image shown in Plate 83, from my own collection, bears
a cross which has obviously been influenced by Christianity. Yet production of this type of
image indicate that images of Songzi Guanyin were already in existence and the sculptors knew
they would have a ready market for these new-style Guanyin figures.
STLah
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