The white glazed wares known as ‘Blanc de Chine’ are a well known feature of Chinese ceramic art. Pieces of this white ware originally came from the porcelain potteries in Dehua, Fujian province, north of the harbour city of Canton on the South Chinese coast. Eventually production was taken up by the kilns of Jingdezhen, the ‘ceramics city’ of China, but the clay used was rather different to that of Fujian and, when seen unglazed, has a rather ‘drier’ effect. Dehua Blanc de Chine tends to date to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries or even before whereas the Jingdezhen productions mainly belong to the twentieth century but dating within that period is next to impossible. Quality was maintained even in ‘late’ pieces and the clay used was pretty consistent throughout the period.

Guanyin was the well known Goddess of Mercy and inspired a multitude of images in many art forms. She is often represented with lotus, as here, which is a Buddhist symbol of purity. The pose and modelling of this piece is little different to earlier examples but the paste of the foot indicates Jingdezhen work and the impressed numbers at the base, which seem to read ‘10’, imply a late twentieth century dating. But the workmanship is not so inferior that this figure cannot be enjoyed as a modest example of a quintessential Chinese ceramic creation.