Kuan Yin
Category
Ceramics
Date
1640 - 1680
Materials
Porcelain
Measurements
450 mm (Height); 85 mm (Diameter)
Place of origin
Dehua
Order this imageCollection
Saltram, Devon
NT 871079
Summary
Figure of Guanyin, one of three almost identical figures at Saltram (see also NT 870779 and NT 870827), porcelain, made in Dehua, Fujian province, China, 1640–80, in undecorated porcelain with a clear glaze. The figure is seated on rockwork, wears a crown, is dressed in flowing robes and holds a child in her lap.
Full description
Guanyin 觀音 is a bodhisattva, a figure in Buddhism who has achieved spiritual enlightenment but who remains in the mortal realm to help others. In Chinese folk belief Guanyin was seen as a goddess of mercy and was thought to be able to ensure the birth of healthy children (McArthur 2002). Although originally made for the Chinese market and intended for religious worship, representations of Buddhist figures in Dehua porcelain were also exported to Europe from the seventeenth century onwards, where they were admired for their material finesse. This type of porcelain is sometimes known in the West as ‘blanc de Chine’ (‘Chinese white’). A pair of similar seated Guanyin figures with children is in the Royal Collection, inv. no. RCIN 1109.
Provenance
Accepted by HM Government in lieu of inheritance tax and allocated to the National Trust, 1957.
References
North 2018: Susan North, 18th-Century Fashion in Detail, London, 2018., p. 14.
