10. M5593
£8,500
Description
Large Chinese Blanc de Chine moulded standing figure of a lady beside a high relief phoenix bird, wearing long robes tied above the waist and a wide ruyi-head collar garment, holding a flywhisk in her right hand, her hair in a high piled coiffure, all on a stylized rockwork base.
16 1⁄4 inches, 41.4 cm high.
Dehua, Fujian Province.
Early Qing dynasty, circa 1680.
Provenance & Additional Information
- From a private villa in the west of Italy.
- With label Accorsi Pietro Antichita, Torino.
- A similar example is illustrated by P. J. Donnelly in Blanc de Chine, 1969, p. 178, fig. 103, photo C.
- The facial and hair style of this model is well-known and features on several moulded figures of this group, a 65.2 cm high lady and child was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 1985, no. 16, p. 14; a seated example with a lady holding a biwa beside a standing crane was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 1994, no. 17, p. 28; another seated lady with an attendant and also wearing a similar collar was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 2006, no. 42, p. 68.
- The high coiffeur is reminiscent of a European style found on Kangxi blue and white porcelain and commonly referred to as “de la Fontanges” after a French duchess of that name, it is exemplified by the dish featuring European musicians which was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Chinese Blue and White – Wan Li to K’ang Hsi, 1980, no. 19; figures with this hairstyle are discussed by Geoffrey A. Godden in Oriental Export Market Porcelain and Its Influence on European Wares, where the author records that figures on The Nassau were brought home on the voyage in 1697-1699 in Amoy and were described as “twelve women with top-knots”, sold in London in 1699.
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