Page 321 - Christies Fine Chinese Works of Art March 2016 New York

PROPERTY FROM THE ESTATE OF GILBERT IRELAND

1608

A RARE DEHUA SEATED FIGURE OF
GUANYIN
MING DYNASTY, EARLY 17TH CENTURY,
IMPRESSED LIN CHAOJING MARK

The bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara is shown
seated in dhyanasana on a double-lotus
throne encircled by beads, with the hands
held in the lap in dhyanamudra, and wearing
a loosely draped robe falling in graceful
folds, a ruyi bead necklace, and a long cowl
that falls over the shoulders from where it is
draped over the two tall, looped topknots
that rise behind the lotus crown centered
by a fgure of Amitabha. The face is fnely
modeled with a serene expression and a small
urna. A Lin Chaojing four-character seal
mark is impressed on the back, and the fgure
is covered overall with a glaze of white tone
pooling to a pale blue in the recesses.

18 in. (45.8 cm.) high

$40,000-60,000

PROVENANCE

Galster-Ireland Collection, New York.

Lin Chaojing (dates unknown) is believed to be a
contemporary of He Chaozong, who was working
during the 16th and early 17th centuries, and in
1612 is mentioned in Quanzhou Fu Zhi, a record
of the history of the Quanzhou District of Fujian
province. The present fgure can be compared
to a seated fgure of Guanyin (15Ω in. high)
bearing the mark of He Chaozong, illustrated by
R. H. Blumenfeld in Blanc de Chine: The Great
Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley/Tokyo, 2002, p. 130
A, where it is dated early 17th century, and on
the cover, and to another fgure, very similar to
the Blumenfeld Guanyin, also by He Chaozong,
(15¿ in. high), illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese
Ceramics: The Koger Collection, London/New
York, 1985, no. 147. The double-lotus throne
of each fgure is encircled by a similar band of
beads, and each fgure has a cowl draped over
what are most likely similar looped topknots
behind a lotus crown centered with the fgure of
Amitabha.

明十七世紀 德化白釉觀音坐像 林朝景印款

(mark)

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