MARIA KANNON SCULPTURE, LATE EDO PERIOD (1603-1868), EARLY-TO-MID 19TH CENTURY

in wood, metal, lacquer, polychrome pigments, and gold. Pedestal shaped to sylized lotus, cross in the back part.
Measures cm. 15,3 x 5,4 x 4,7.
Complete of original portable altar.

PROVENANCE
Roman Private Collection.

The lot is free to be exportedThe artwork is a remarkable and important testimony to the faith of the Japanese Christians who went into hiding (Kakure Kirishitan), risking their own lives, in order not to apostatize, allowing us today to fully understand the tormented life of Japanese converts throughout the Edo period.
This particular example is of Japanese origin, made of wood and decorated with polychrome pigments and gold, thus testifying to the highly significant value the image had to the faithful Hidden Christian.
A Christian Cross, representing Jesus, was concealed at the back of the image in an intentionally left-unpainted part at the bottom of the lotus pedestal, as expected for such a unique item (h. cm. 11.4)Maria Kannon are statues of the Buddhist deity Kannon that were secretly revered by the Hidden Japanese Christians (Kakure Kirishitan) in persecution times as images of Our Lady. In the mid-17th century, outlawed Christians created statues of the Virgin Mary (Mother of Jesus) disguised as the Buddhist deity Kannon (Goddess of Mercy). These images, called Maria Kannon, were made or altered to look like Kannon, but they were not worshipped as such.
To conceal their faith, Christians pretended to be Buddhist lay people, yet they secretly maintained their faith. They hid crosses inside Buddhist statues which, to outsiders appeared Buddhist, but to the outlawed Christians were objects of faith.
The Kakure Kirishitan venerated these images by silently praying to Mother Mary.
Many statues had a Christian icon hidden inside the body or camouflaged in the artwork.
Maria Kannon statues were mostly made of white porcelain in Southern China (Dehua) where they were worshipped as the divinity Guanyin, considered the guardian of babies and their mothers, and then imported in quantities into Japan where Christian icons were forbidden.
The ones of Japanese origin are sometimes seen to be carrying or nursing a baby to resemble the Japanese Buddhist Deity of easy childbirth Kariteimo. The very few surviving ones are made of wood or plaster. A Christian cross was most of the times hidden within the image.
There are almost no extant examples in museum collections worldwide, as figures from the Edo period were mostly seized or destroyed during the clashes on hidden Christians that took place in 1790, 1805, 1842, 1856, 1867.
Such figures are therefore outstandingly scarce and exceedingly rare.
In Japan only two examples from this period are known to have survived: in the collection of Kojoji Temple, Kannami City, Shizuoka Prefecture, designated as important cultural property, one sculpture of Maria Kannon is displayed in the main hall. It bears very similar stylistic features with the example exhibited here. It is made of plaster, metal, painted with polychrome pigments, and enshrined in a black-lacquered-and-gilt wooden portable shrine.
The metal crown of Mary bears a hardly noticeable small Cross in relief camouflaged in its decoration. (Figure h. cm. 17 - see picture). The Sculpture was donated by the Ogawa Family, who owned it through the centuries, to Kojoji Temple in the Meiji period (1868-1912) after the ban on Christianity had been finally lifted in 1873.
The group of pieces seized in the 1856 and 1867 clashes on Hidden Christians which now form the Tokyo National Museum Collection also includes a few sculptures of Japanese origin made of plaster or wood, and decorated with polychrome pigments. These examples allow us to date the very scarce sculptures which owe their survival to the ingenuity of the Hidden Christians who even buried them underground hoping that they would go unnoticed by the officials in charge of the repression and persecution.
Another example, entirely made of wood, in the collection of Kawaguchi City, Saitama Prefecture, designated as an important cultural property, dated to the late 17th century (h. cm. 13.2), was even found hidden, together with a bronze crucifix, into a larger statue of Amida Nyorai (Amithaba Buddha) created in the same period (see picture). It appears that Christians hid crosses inside Buddhist statues that were used during Buddhist funeral services for deceased family members. These secretive methods fooled government agents and helped Christians to keep their faith hidden and alive.


STRAORDINARIA SCULTURA DI MARIA KANNON, PERIODO EDO (1603-1868), PRIMA METÁ XIX SECOLO
in legno, metallo, lacca, pigmenti policromi e oro.
Piedistallo sagomato a loto stilizzato, croce nella parte posteriore.
Misure ingombro. cm. 15,3 x 5,4 x 4,7.
Completa di altarino portatile originale.

PROVENIENZA
Collezione privata romana