China, 1368-1644. Heavily cast, the seated deity holding an infant child in the palm of one hand and cradling its head with the other. She is dressed in voluminous robes with incised foliate hems. Her serene face with heavy-lidded eyes below arched brows and full lips forming a benevolent smile. Her neatly incised hair is arranged in a high chignon and falls elegantly in strands along her shoulders, behind an elaborate headdress formed of three phoenixes.

Provenance: French trade. Acquired from an old private estate in the Normandy, by repute.
Condition: Good condition with expected old wear, casting flaws, minor nicks, light scratches, small dents, losses. The wood base in good condition with expected age cracks, light scratches, small nicks.

Weight: 2,287 g (excl. stand) and 3,065 g (incl. stand)
Dimensions: Height 29 cm (excl. stand) and 35.5 cm (incl. stand)

With an old, finely carved, fitted wood stand of European origin and dating from the last quarter of the 19^th century. (2)

The Songzi representation of Guanyin, or the 'Bringer of Sons,' is identifiable by the boy held in her hands. Male children were extremely important to Confucian family structure. They ensured not only the continuity of family and clan, but that there would be uninterrupted generations to carry on the rituals of ancestral worship. The Child-Giving Guanyin was prayed to by worshipers for healthy children and intelligent male heirs. Extant depictions of Songzi Guanyin from the later Ming dynasty are known in various materials, including bronze, wood, stone, and ivory.

Expert’s note: The present figure of Songzi Guanyin bears some resemblance to other female deities, chiefly Xiwangmu (the Queen Mother of the West) and Bixia Yuanjun (the Primordial Sovereign of the Colored Clouds of Dawn), especially in the phoenix headdress. Being the most popular female deity in China over many centuries, Guanyin, and especially her maternal manifestation Songzi Guanyin, was syncretized into Taoism and Chinese folk religion. Compare a related larger bronze figure of Bixia Yuanjun, dated 1375-1450, 98 cm high, in the Art Institute of Chicago, reference number 1967.333, illustrated in Stephen Little, Taoism and the Arts of China, Chicago, 2000, p. 278, no. 95.

Auction result comparison:
Type: Closely related
Auction: Sotheby’s Hong Kong, 25 November 2022, lot 555
Estimate: HKD 60,000 or approx. EUR 7,100 converted and adjusted for inflation at the time of writing
Description: A bronze figure of Guanyin and child, Ming dynasty, 16th century
Expert remark: Compare the closely related subject and manner of casting. Note the much smaller size (16.9 cm).

External expert note: The figure may be Zisun Niangniang (Our Lady Who Sends Sons and Grandsons), a companion of Bixia Yuanjun. See Susan Naquin, The Gods of Mount Tai (Brill, 2022).