Page 51 - Christie's Asian Art Auctions PARIS December 2019

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GRANDE STATUE DE GUANYIN EN
PORCELAINE DEHUA
CHINE, CIRCA 1900
Elle est représentée debout émergeant des fots
tumultueux où nage une grosse carpe. Elle est
vêtue d'une longue robe, coifée d'un haut chignon
ceint d'une tiare abritant une image de Bouddha
et arbore des bijoux précieux. Les délicates mains
sont amovibles, l'une des deux tient un rouleau. Le
dos porte une marque moulée à quatre caractères
boji yuren dans un cartouche carré ; petite
restauration.
Hauteur: 88 cm. (34¬ in.)
€40,000-60,000 US$45,000-67,000
£35,000-52,000

PROVENANCE:
European private collection.
A LARGE DEHUA FIGURE OF A STANDING
GUANYIN
CHINA, CIRCA 1900
清 約1900年 德化白釉觀音立像
「博及漁人」印款
來源：歐洲私人珍藏

The goddess Guanyin, also known as the
bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara, is venerated as
the goddess of mercy and compassion. One of
the most popular subjects in Chinese art, early
representations portray the deity as male, but by
the Qing dynasty, particularly in porcelain, she
was depicted as a beautiful female. Legend relates
that she was a daughter of a sovereign of the Chou
Dynasty and refused her father’s command for her
to marry, preferring to enter a convent. She was
thus put to death and was thought to have gone
straight to hell, whereupon her arrival the fames
turned to fowers and she was sent back to life to
the island of Potala on a lotus leaf.
Seal marks referred to as ‘fsherman’ marks usually
read boji yuren, translated as ‘virtue extends to all,
even fshermen.’ This type of commendation mark
does not refer to or indicate a specifc potter and
sometimes appears on its own, or accompanied by
the mark for Dehua. See another large Dehua fgure
of Guanyin of same size from the 18th century sold
in Christie’s London, 9 May 2017, lot 127.

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