Guanyin of the South China Sea Shell

A single shell, pulled from the South China Sea by fishermen, and from that one piece a master's hand carved the Goddess of Mercy — Kuan Yin Pusa. Look closely: the fall of her robe, the gesture of her hands, the Kuan Yin mudra itself, all drawn out of one curve of shell without a crack or a break. To carve a shell is to work without a second chance; a single wrong pass and the piece is lost. Consider, too, how long the sea took to make the canvas: a shell of this size grows for centuries — by some reckoning four to five hundred years — before it is ever found. It rests on base of red oak, a wood chosen to hold a piece this rare. The Master has kept it in his own collection for more than fifteen years.