Vietnam White Marble Kuan Yin Holding a Child (Songzi Guanyin), 36in

Kuan Yin who brings children

This is Songzi Guanyin, the child-giving Kuan Yin, one of the most personal forms of the bodhisattva of compassion. She sits upright on a lotus throne and holds a small child on her lap with both arms, one hand under the child's legs and the other at its back. Her head tilts down toward the child and her expression is soft and motherly, the face of someone keeping watch rather than presiding. At 36 inches this is a statue with real presence, large enough to hold its own in a family room or a temple hall.

The meaning of the form

In Chinese homes Songzi Guanyin has long been the figure families turn to when they hope for a child, and the figure they thank once a child arrives. Couples keep her in the house while they wait; grandparents give her when a baby is born; she watches over a nursery or a family shrine as the children grow. The child in her arms is fully robed, its hair tied up in a small topknot, and rests against her the way any infant rests against its mother. That ordinary tenderness is the point of the form: compassion shown at the scale of a single family.

How she is carved

She is recognised by the same signs as every Chinese Kuan Yin. A long hood-like veil falls from the crown over her shoulders and down her back. The crown carries a small seated Amitabha Buddha at the front, the Buddha she serves. Beaded strands hang at her neck over layered robes that drape across her knees and spill over the edge of the lotus. Beneath her, a broad lotus throne of rounded petals sits on a beaded ring and a second, lower lotus base, so the figure stands raised and complete on its own pedestal.

Vietnam white marble

The statue is carved in Vietnam white marble, a bright, fine-grained stone with a clean, slightly cool white, closer to porcelain than to the warm cream of Makrana. That cool white suits Kuan Yin, so often pictured in white robes, and it keeps the faces of mother and child luminous in daylight. Figure and robes are given a soft satin polish rather than a mirror shine, so the folds of the veil and the small hands of the child read clearly from across the room.

Size and care

The statue stands 36 inches tall including the lotus base, about 22 inches wide and 16 inches deep, and weighs around 110 kg, so place her on a level floor or a strong, low plinth. Each piece is made to order in Jaipur, and the size and details can be adjusted on request. Clean her with a soft dry or lightly damp cloth, and avoid acidic cleaners, which dull marble.