Standing Guanyin

In the late Ming dynasty, sailors and fishermen of southeast coastal China worshipped this bodhisattva, Guohai Guanyin, as a savior. The goddess was believed to float across the sea on a lotus flower, rescuing men in a tempest. The refined porcelain body and delicate, creamy white glaze indicate that this statue was made at the kilns of Dehua, a rural county in southeast China that is famous for its fine, white porcelain stone. The square seal impressed on its back shoulder attributes this figure to a well-known porcelain sculptor of Dehua, He Chaozong (active late 16th early 17th century).

Beginning in the late seventeenth century, Dehua figures and vessels were dispatched to world markets. Porcelains of this type subsequently achieved fame in Europe under the French name, blanc de chine ("white from China"), and inspired similar English and French wares in soft-paste porcelain, notably at Chelsea and Meissen.