Jakabffy Imre szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 13. (Budapest, 1971)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Imre, Gabriella: Kuan-yin with Fish

thing understood the (langer standing over him and sent one nf her followers. TToan Shen-lsai to buy the fish and to save in this way ihe youngesl son of the king of the Dragons. The king of ihe Dragons was deeply moved by tin

1 kindness of Miaoshan and lo express his gratitude he presented her with a miraculously shining pearl in order thai she could read the holy books even at night by ils light. The present was handed over by his grandchild. Lung-mi who later became a follower of Miaoshan. The specific attribute of our statuette, the baskel containing a fish can be originated in this legendary elemen I. Fish and fish-basket as attributes are known in Japanese art as well. In Japan the worship of the goddess in the form of Kwannon of Byaku, that is. WhiteGarmented Kwannon started in the I5lh century. There are several represenlalions in the 33 Kwannon group that are pointing to the Miao-shan legend either with their name or rendering. In connection with the fish Kuan-yin became popular as Gyoran Kwannon in Japan. Mösl often the goddess is standing on the back of a fish going against the stream but ihe variant with basket can be found too. The technical rendering of the statuette is worth mentioning. ( )n the back of the statuette three oval-shaped slightly protruding spots and some splits beside them (fig. 2) indicate that the statuette carved of one piece was opened three times on the back, then the inserted pieces were fixed to the statuette with iron nails and it was newly lacquered and painted. We opened the statuette in the boltom as well but did not find anything in the hollow interior. This method serves for preventing splitting in wooden sculptures carved of one piece. Wood is very good for carving but in case it does not completely dry it may spbl later. It is especially dangerous in the case of sculptures carved of one piece. On the surface the wood dries aller suitable storing and ihe danger of a later split does not arise. The situation, however, is quite different in the ease of the core of ihe wood thai dries only very slowly and never complet oily. Thus it may happen that a seemingly dry piece of wood starts "moving" due to changes in the temperature. Inside the block the wood starts slowly drying so it becomes smaller due to which the block longitudinally splits and several cracks arise that reaching to the surface damage the painting, the gilt and lacquering. To prevent this the sculptor's only possibility is to open the back of the sculpture and hollowing il to get rid of the core in order thai during the following work the sculpture may completely dry. The more a wooden sculpture is made hollow the less is the danger of splitting. Aller the process of hollowing is finished the opening is covered by a thin wooden panel thai is usually fixed lo ihe body of the sculpture with tenons. The inserted panel is afterwards lacquered and painted. Our Kuan-yin statuette is hollowed up to ihe height of the shoulders and the inserted parts are fastened to the statuette with iron mails. This is a quite unusual procedure and seems to contradict to the otherwise careful and high-quality elaboration of ihe statuette. It is a further problem, loo, that the slaluetfe was opened on three parts on the back and even on the bottom. The Chinese wooden sculptures were generally carved of one piece but the process of hollowing to prevent splitting of the sculpture was not, however, widespread. The question arises whether it was the result of an inner development or that of a foreign influence thai this technical process came into use. As the statuette is open also on the bottom one could suppose thai the hollowing served cubic aims, as it is well-known in the case of bronze sculptures: a prayer or a smaller statuette or data relating to the statuette may have been hidden in it.