Jakabffy Imre szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 13. (Budapest, 1971)
HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Imre, Gabriella: Kuan-yin with Fish
Tlx 1 widker-work basket is of tthiek wood, it is decorated with horizontally parallel lines carved in it, the bamboo leaves covering the lid of the basket bend over it. The statuette was coated by red lacquer then it was covered by golden-brown paint into which the pattern was etched. Fig. 3 shows the statue after restoration when the basket also has been completed. All over the garment the pattern is formed of horizontally placed stylized smooth and crested waves. It is easy to follow how the pattern was etched into, more correctly scratched out of the paint, because on the edges of the scratched surface the paint did not throw smoothly but the edges were tucked up in thicker or thinner layers. A part of the statuette on the back below is refitted. It is surprising that the damaged pattern was not mended by the original method but by golden painting. The colour of the gold applied here is quite different from the original. The upper part of the body is left open and is deephtled with a double string of pearls. Lacquery and paint have completely worn off probably due to wetness. The bottom of the statuette was lacquered and gilt, too. The statuette is characterised by the graceful movement of the hand and the dynamic lines of the garment. The artist knew very well how lo create a harmony between the body and the garment, how to illustrate an inner rhythm by means of the lively pleats of the garment. Inventory number: 69.6; height: 95.5 cm. The most striking characteristic of this Kuan-yin statuette is the fish-basket in its left hand. The basket was made of a different, softer, less good quality wood, the handle is broken. The basket is less finely elaborated even its ornamentics is different. When restoring the statuette it became visible thai the basket was attached lo the statuette with a big booked nail and glue. There are traces of painting on the statuette under the basket. The ribbon hanging from the waist whose line is broken by the basket was carved in one piece, naturally it was damaged when attaching ihe basket on it. The position of the hand makes it possible that originally it may have held not a fish basket but another object or the hand was just hanging loose and the fishbasket, is a later addition. These are only suppositions as neither the different wood nor the differences in carving and ornamentics can give an ultimate answer to the problem in the lack of analogies. The fish-basket is, if not the most wide-spread, but a well-known and popular attribute to the late Kuan-yin sculptures. Its explanation necessitates the knowledge of the Miao-shan legend. The time of origin and the relation with Kuan-yin. the Chinese correspondent to the Bodhisaltva Avalokitesvara of the Indian Buddhism of the Miao-shan legend is a problem long unsettled. In her paper Melanie Stiassny 1 supposes the existence of an ancient goddess of mercy who was known and worshipped in the ancient China and who later became included in the Buddhist Pantheon. Tradition knows a Goddess of Mercy under the name Miao-shan whose cult started in 2587 B.C. 2 She poinls out the development of the original Avalokitesvara conception in the Mahayana Buddhism, how Avalokitesvara becomes the embodiment of Mercy who. like the other Bodhisaltvas that coming to the last but one stage of cognition reach salvation from the world of samsara, renounces his own salvation in order to help suffering mankind. The Saddharma Pundarika sutra translated into Chinese in 265 A.D. glorifies this already 1 Slinssui). Melanie: Einiges zur buddhistischen Madonna. Jahrbuch der Asiatischen Kunst (Leipzig) Bd. 1. 1924. pp. 112-119. 2 Op. cit. p. 112.
