Gilded Relief of Guanyin

Ming Dynasty
Yunnan Provincial Museum, Kunming

This magnificant high relief of gilded wood depicts the savior goddess, Guanyin (Sanskrit: Avalokiteshvara) surrounded by her acolytes and subsidiary deities. Worship of Guanyin was pervasive in China from the Ming dynasty onwards, but seems to have been especially intense here, and in Sichuan.