A large section of an Asian elephant tusk, golden in color with pronounced honey hued grain. The widest part of the piece is lighter with cool highlights at the front of the crown, the result of milky layers which occur outward from the center of the tusk. The surface has been worked to a high hand polish distinctive to ivory; when ivory is cut the pores fill with an oily substance which enhances the depth and translucence that is so highly valued. True to its essence this work has been carved in low relief on the natural oval form of the tusk.

This Quan Yin head bears a serene _expression and downward looking eyes as she searches for the lost and suffering souls of sentient beings to embrace them and to revive them with her limitless compassion. Her face is smoothly carved and polished, her hair is gracefully swept upward and back where it is covered by a cloth headdress that falls in gentle draping folds. Over it she wears a crown with lacy openwork on either side of a prayerful figure seated on a double lotus, a theme which is repeated on the back of the work. At the top of her head encircled by her crown is the smiling figure of Amitabha Buddha, of whom she is a manifestation. So powerful is the force of her compassion, it is said, that when she visited hell the flames were quenched and flowers burst into bloom. --RW