2. M5583

£38,500


Description

Chinese Blanc de Chine figure of Guandi seated on a throne and looking to the left, his right hand holding up his belt, while his left hand rests on his knee, his long flowing robes incised with a central dragon, uncovered at the shoulder, knee and chest to reveal detailed armour, his hair tied with a cap and a headdress of the rising sun above ruyi-clouds, covered overall in a rich and even cream glaze.

The base incised with a three-character mark, Yi zis un, “blessing for your son and grandson”.

8 3⁄4 inches, 22.3 cm high.

Dehua, Fujian Province.

Late Ming dynasty, circa 1620-1640.

Provenance & Additional Information

  • From an important private Hong Kong collection.
  • Sold by Marchant, 26th March 1998.
  • Formerly in the collection of Marvin Davidson, New York.
  • Figures of Guandi pulling up his belt are rare. Related models with Guandi clasping his hands beneath his robes are known, one was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 2014, no. 17, pp. 36/7; another is included by P. J. Donnelly in Blanc de Chine, pl. 97A; a further example is illustrated by J.P. Palmer in A Young Collector of Blanc de Chine, The Connoisseur Magazine, no. 3, p. 4; another described as Guanyu (general of the Three Kingdoms), is illustrated by Wang Yamin and Huang Weiwen in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum I, nos. 61 & 63, pp. 172/3 and 176/7.
  • This model of Guandi is related to the famous dated example in the British Museum, museum no. 1930,1113.1, illustrated by Jessica Harrison-Hall in Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, no. 17:8, p. 511, dated to the forty-seventh year of Wanli, corresponding to 1610, again holding his belt and wearing an official incised dragon robe.
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