Description
Large 3,265 Carat Guanyin (Guan Yin, Kwan Yin) Hand-Carved Ruby-Zoisite (Anyolite) Sculpture, with lotus carved inclusion, circa 1995. Unpolished;see images. This is the work of an unknown Thai craftsman in the mid-1990s, though Ruby Zoisite (also known as anyolite) is itself found only in the Arusha Region of Tanzania ans some locales in Kenya. Ruby Zoisite is actually a metamorphic rock composed of intergrown green zoisite (the mineral from which comes Tanazanite), black/dark green pargasite, and massive (i.e., opaque)ruby. This particular find of rubu-zoisite from which this artful piece was created had a serendiptous small inclusion of white-yellow, possibly calcite, which allowed the artist to carve it as a lotus blosson in Guanyin’s hand. Some Buddhists believe that when one of their adherents departs from this world, they are placed by Guanyin in the heart of a lotus, and then sent to the western Pure Land of Sukhāvatī. Guanyin is often referred to as the “most widely beloved Buddhist Divinity”, with miraculous powers to assist all those who pray to her, as is said in the Lotus Sutra and Karandavyuha Sutra. Some say that saying her name three times will ease heartache.
