A BLANC-DE-CHINE 'GUANYIN AND CHILD' GROUP
17th/18th century
The Goddess of Mercy well modelled with eyes lowered, her thick hair gathered in two simple knots resting on each shoulder, the delicate fingers gently supporting a boy seated on her bent right knee who holds a lotus stem in one hand and with the other reaches up to clutch her robes, all raised on a well sculpted rocky base, covered overall with a creamy glaze.
33cm (13in) high.
Footnotes:
十七/十八世紀 德化白瓷送子觀音像

Provenance: an Italian private collection

來源：義大利私人收藏

The present representation of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, accompanied by her acolyte, most probably identifiable as Shancai, was probably derived from a passage in the the 'Flower Garland Sutra', which relates the spiritual journey of a youth, Sudhana, who is advised by Manjusri, the Bodhisattva of Wisdom, to visit fifty-three different beings in his quest to search for the ultimate truth. Sudhana's encounter with Guanyin on Mount Potalaka became an influential passage in Buddhist religious art and representations of the duo abounded in paintings and sculptural productions.

A related blanc-de-Chine figure of Guanyin and acolyte, 17th/18th century, was sold at Bonhams London, 20 May 2008, lot 245.
This lot is subject to the following lot symbols: *
* VAT on imported items at a preferential rate of 5% on Hammer Price and the prevailing rate on Buyer's Premium.

Tuft of hair of the little boy and bottle vase restored; firing imperfections and firing cracks around and underneath the base, as well as to a smaller extent, to the figures; nicks to the extremities.