5. R1379

£39,500


Description

Chinese Blanc de Chine Guanyin, standing on a lingzhi cloud base, wearing long robes extending to a cowl revealing a tiara containing the Buddha Amitabha, the robes covering her hands and exposing both feet, wearing a lotus necklace, covered in a rich and thick creamy glaze.

18 1⁄4 inches, 46.3 cm high.

Dehua, Fujian Province.

Late Ming dynasty, circa 1620-1640.

Provenance & Additional Information

  • From the collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997).
    The son of a Republican politician, Dr Wou Kiuan was appointed Secretary-General for the Overseas Chinese Committee at the League of Nations in Geneva in 1937, after which he embarked on an illustrious career in diplomacy. Upon his retirement in 1952 and subsequent return to London, Dr Wou Kiuan went on to form his collection in the mid-1950s to late 1960s.
  • Formerly in the Wou Lien-Pai Museum, collection number Q.4.24.
  • A similar example with an identical tiara bearing an indistinct four-character seal mark, suggested as the Ming artist Lin Chao Ging, is illustrated by Wang Yamin and Huang Weiwen in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum I, no. 11, pp. 46/7; another from the collection of the Imperial Court of the Qing Dynasty with a He Chaozong mark is included in the same publication, no. 10, pp. 43-45.
  • A related Guanyin standing on an overturned vase with lotus flowerhead and waves and with a He Chaozong gourd mark from the collection of Captain J. Meuldijk, the Netherlands was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 2014, no. 2, pp. 10/1; another from the collection of Elizabeth Gibson Holahan, Rochester, New York was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 2006, no. 1, pp. 8/9.
  • A standing Guanyin on a lingzhi cloud base with a He Chaozong gourd mark from the collection of Edward T. Chow was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 1994, no. 3, pp. 18/9, front cover.
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