Figure
Category
Ceramics
Date
1680 - 1710
Materials
porcelain
Place of origin
Dehua
Order this imageCollection
Wallington, Northumberland
NT 581819
Summary
Pair of incense burners (joss stick holder), porcelain, made in Dehua, Fujian province, China, Kangxi period (1662–1722), c. 1680-1710; moulded in the form of a Buddhist guardian lions (dog of Fo), seated on rectangular plinths, both holding a ball under one paw, with an upright tube at one corner of each pedestal to hold an incense stick. See also 581823 for another pair at Wallington.
Full description
The white, undecorated porcelain produced in Dehua, in Fujian province, is difficult to throw, so many of the products are made with moulds, as here, ornamented with applied details. It has been commonly known outside Asia as blanc de Chine (‘Chinese white’), and these popular models of a Buddhist guardian lion were historically called ‘dog of Fo’ or ‘dog of Fu’ after Fu (佛), the Mandarin word for ‘Buddha’ or ‘Buddhist’. The fantastical appearance of these figures is partly explained by the fact that Chinese artisans would not have known real lions. The pedestals are an echo of the practice of placing large lion figures as guardians next to entrances to temples. In 1697-99, the English East Indiaman, the Nassau, listed '1,247 small white lyons', '613 small white lyons or dogs' and '37 large white lyons', among the 242,000-piece cargo, brought back from Amoy, on Taiwan, across from Fujian province (see G.A. Godden, Oriental Export Market Porcelain (London, 1979), 259-260). Similar Dehua figures of Buddhist lions are in the collections at Blickling Hall (NT 353355.1-2, NT 353486), Chirk Castle (NT 1170561.1-2), Lacock Abbey (NT 995781), Penrhyn Castle (NT 1420460.1-2), Stourhead (NT 730491.1-2), Uppark (NT 137438.1-2) and Saltam (NT 870824.1-2, 870830. There are also several in the British Royal Collection, RCIN 58864 – RCIN 58867, probably acquired by King George IV when Prince of Wales in the early 19th century.