A SMALL ZUSHI WITH A FIGURE OF KANNON

Wood covered with natural black lacquer, gilt kinpaku interior. Copper mountings. The zushi contains a small copy of the "Maria Kannon" or Jibó Kannon (Kannon with a child), carved after a secret statue of Santa Maria from 1714 kept in disguise in the province of Saitama by a secret Christian believer. The figure has a rounded white face under a high hair knot with a little statue of Amida in the style of Jibo Kannon, one of the 33 transformations of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy. The polychromy uses a Christian-like combination of white, ultramarine blue and red mineral pigments with gold ornaments and a roundel with Christian symbols in the middle.