A wood and stuc with polychromy highlights head of Guanyin, China, Song dynasty, adorned with a wreath decorated with flowers and foliage, its hair coiffed in a bun at the centre of the wreath, some locks wrapped around its elongated earlobes, its half-closed eyes encrusted with black glass beads, his mouth sketching a slight smile, on a base, 43 cm high (head)

A similar entire wooden Guanyin sculpture, dated Northern Song/Jin, is kept in the Cleveland Museum of Art, inv. no. 1981.53. Two other complete Bodhisattva sculptures with a similar crown and headdress, dated to the Song and Yuan dynasties, have been sold at Sotheby's, New York, 20 March 2012, lot no. 57. Another, dated to the Song Dynasty, has also been sold at Sotheby's, Hong Kong, 5 April 2016, lot no. 2865.

Guanyin (skr. Avalokiteshvara), Bodhisattva of compassion and mercy, occupies a central place in the Chinese Buddhist pantheon. Of Indian origin, this deity was welcomed in China during the Tang dynasty. Accessible to the common man, hence its extreme popularity, whoever uttered the name Guanyin during troubled times was saved from his torment - its first name meaning "who sympathizes with the looks and voices of suffering". Although the Bodhisattva do not have a specific gender, Guanyin was gradually represented in China from the Song Dynasty onwards in a feminine manner, as illustrated by the sculpture that we present.