23.0 cm. (9 in.) high

The present lot belongs to a specific group of Chinese ceramics manufactured primarily during the 17th and 18th centuries in the county of Dehua, Fujian province, southeastern China. Also known as blanc-de-Chine, a name originated from 19th century by the French, the white wares from this region were made for decoration and religious purposes as well as for daily use. Dehua wares are defined by thick and creamy glaze, a dense and highly vitrified paste with sugary texture; the base with characteristically vivid fissuring due to the dryness of the clay.
The most prominent examples are those consisting of religious Buddhist and Daoist sculptural deities produced mostly in private workshops for wealthy and elegant religious devotees by legendary masters such as He Chaozong, which is identified by the potter’s impressed four-character He Chaozong yin mark located towards the back of the figure, as exemplified by the current lot. Little documentary evidence remains for He Chaozong apart from extant examples of his works, but he is widely regarded by many as one of the most celebrated early 17th-century Chinese potters, and his works are highly revered and sought after.
He Chaozong figurative works identified by his seal is regarded by connoisseurs as in an entirely different category than the usual Dehua statuary of the period and those later; they are artistically more expressive and the creativity is unmatched by subsequent thinner and standardised unsigned works. The earlier imagery of the Buddha is considerably a much rarer subject: for related later examples of Dehua seated and standing Buddha figures dated to the 17th and 18th centuries, see Robert H. Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine: The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Hong Kong, 2002, pp.56-57.

Price estimate:
HKD: 1,800,000 - 2,200,000
USD: 230,800 - 282,100

Auction Result:
HKD: --