Lot Essay
See the British Museum and O.C.S. 1984 Exhibition Catalogue, pp.40 and 41, fig.4, and p.57 for a back view of the figure. From the second half of the sixteenth century onwards, the Spanish, having settled in and around Luzon, discovered that the Chinese were talented carvers of ivory. In particular, many images of the Virgin and Child and other Christian religious figures were commissioned by the Spanish to adorn their churches in return for silver bullion from Mexico and Peru. Thousands of Chinese, particularly from Zhangzhou, a coastal port in Fujian, on hearing of the buoyant trading activities, flooded to Luzon and settled there. The Chinese, in turn, having made ivory groups for the Spaniards, discovered that with minor changes, such as substituting the cross for a tassel, or removing the orb or dove from the Infant's hand and adding Chinese details, these groups would depict Guanyin, thus appealing to the domestic market. As a result, Zhangzhou became an important centre for ivory carving in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; they are often referred to as 'Zhangzhou School' carvings.