17th-18th Century Boxwood Carved Guanyin Figure
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A boxwood carved figure of guanyin, 17th-18th century the goddess of Compassion standing tall on bare feet, her head slightly bowed and tilted to the left, her face serene and eyes closed in deep contemplation, flanked by a pair of elongated earlobes, all beneath her finely incised hair coiled in high chignon and tresses flowing freely on her shoulders, her right hand extended forward in srimudra with the left holding a scroll, wearing loose and free-flowing robe, the wood of a mellow and well-polished tone. With fitted wood stand, 30.5 cm high. Provenance: Raymond and Victoria Tregaskis, Sydney, Australia. An important private collection, Sydney, Australia.
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- Incised - A record of a name, date or inscription, or a decoration scratched into a surface, usually of a glass or ceramic item with a blunt instrument to make a coarse indentation. Compare with engraving where the surface is cut with a sharp instrument such as a metal needle or rotating tool to achieve a fine indentation.
- Important - Important is a word used in the antique trade to indicate an object should be ranked above other similar objects, and is therefore more valuable.
The object could be considered important because it is by a famous designer or maker, has been shown at a major exhibition, is of exquisite workmanship, is rare or is a "one-off", was made for an important patron, and so on.
Even further up the pecking order are objects that are described in catalogue descriptions as highly important or extraordinarily important. - Boxwood - Boxwood is a hard, yellow coloured, close grained timber. In the 19th century it was often used for inlays, especially stringing, because of its contrasting colour to the darker timbers of the carcase. Stringing is the inlay of a narrow strip of veneer of a lighter colour, such as boxwood along or close to the edges of an object that has been veneered in a darker timber such as mahogany.
Because of its fine grain and resistnce to splitting or chipping it has also been used for treen, turnings, carvings and other small wooden items, such as chess pieces.
This item has been included into following indexes:
- Chinese sculpture - wooden carvings, root wood, box wood etc 383
- Chinse sculpture - boxwood carvings and sculpture 119
- Oriental deities, other materials