Sacred Island Deities

A set of important bronze Buddhist statues in the World Museum Liverpool (formerly Liverpool Museum) has recently been identified as originating from China's most popular pilgrimage island, Putuo. Putuo is the devotional centre for Guanyin, the Goddess of Compassion, and the largest figure in the group in Liverpool is an image of this deity (Fig. 2), believed to have been made in the early 15th century. The other four statues--Wenshu, Puxian, Weituo and Guangong--date from the early 17th century (Figs 4, 5, 8 and 9). Because of storage conditions in the decades after World War II (Liverpool Museum was bombed in 1941), the statues lost their original accession numbers and their history and origins were unknown. By the 1990s the bronzes were scattered in different parts of the stores and were generally in poor condition--Guanyin's crown, arms, symbols and other elements had become separated.