Approximate Measurements
Artwork Panel: 50.9cm x 91cm ≈ 20" x 35¾"
Silk/Brocade: 60cm x 146.7cm ≈ 23½" x 57¾"
Width at Wooden Knobs: 69cm ≈ 27¼"
Close up view of the artwork mounted to this silk brocade wall scroll
The title of this piece is "Rescuing the World" or "Granting Mercy to Everybody".
The deity depicted here is Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of mercy. This is the deity you pray to for various things, including a male child and mercy in this and the next life, in regards to karma.
Note that I said "goddess" but actually, Buddhist deities are not supposed to have gender. However, Guanyin is often depicted with female characteristics.
Note: This deity is which is officially romanized as Guanyin from Mandarin Chinese. You may also see "Guan Yin" used. The older romanization (still used in Taiwan) is Kuan Yin or KuanYin. In Japanese, they use the same characters (Kanji) but it's romanized as Kannon (it's the inspiration for the Canon camera company in Japan).
This was hand painted by (Lin Sheng) from Guilin in southern China.
This was painted on Chinese xuan paper (often incorrectly called "rice paper"). The artist used watercolors throughout.
After buying this from the artist in Guilin, I rolled it up in a tube, and put it in my backpack. I then took a 1000+ mile train trip to our workshop in Beijing. At the workshop, it was laminated to more sheets of xuan paper and silk brocade was added in the process of building this handmade wall scroll. See more about building handmade wall scrolls