Limestone head of Guanyin, China, Ming period, 15th century The oval face carved with a serene and meditative expression. The eyebrows are high and arched, with a very pronounced ridge, over almost closed, wrinkled eyes. The eyes are surmounted by heavy and very bulging eyelids. An urna (symbol of vision in the divine world) in relief adorns the middle of the forehead. The lips are well sculpted and fleshy, ending in a point at the mouth, reinforcing the meditative side of the face. The chin is accentuated by a circular incision. The earlobes are elongated and decorated with small flowers that serve as earrings. The forehead is covered with rounded locks framing the entire face up to the bottom of the ears, while the rest is combed into a bun on top of the head. The head is divided by a high tiara, sculpted in relief in the middle with a figure of the Buddha sitting in Namaskara Mudra on a lotus and surrounded by a mandorla. Around the headdress are scrolls in high relief and stylized lotus petals. On each side of the bottom of the mandorla in the middle of the scrolls a round medallion is engraved with an ideogram, on the left 日 (ri) - the sun, on the right 月 (yuè) - the moon. Height: 35 cm Accidents on the left side of the headdress, on the bottom of the right ear and on the back of the head. Perhaps some small re-corking.