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Figure
unknown - Enlarge image
Figure
- Place of origin:
Fujian, China (made)
- Date:
1620-1700 (made)
- Artist/Maker:
unknown (production)
- Materials and Techniques:
White glazed porcelain; the goddess's attributes of an ambrosia bottle and bundle of books are missing
- Museum number:
480-1896
- Gallery location:
British Galleries, room 56d, case 13
Object Type
'Blanc de Chine' is the European name for a kind of fine, white undecorated porcelain made at the Dehua kilns in Fujian province. Kilns in that region were famous for their vessels and especially their figurines, made from the 16th century onwards. The porcelains were made for a fairly local, domestic market but were also exported to Europe in some numbers from the 17th century.
Subjects Depicted
This particular figure shows the Buddhist divinity Guanyin, seated on a pedestal with a flowering lotus beneath and holding a lotus bud in her left hand. At her hand is a small boy. These attributes show the deity in her role as the 'sender of sons'.
Manufacture
The figures were mass-produced using moulds, though the fine detail was finished by hand. Heads and hands were generally modelled separately and attached to the figure before firing. When the modelling was complete, the figures were glazed and then fired in a single high-temperature firing. The work was carried out in family-run workshops. Dehua figurines are often signed by the potters who made them.
