Blanc De Chine Figure of Guanyin, Kangxi (1661–1722)

Chinese Blanc de Chine figure of Guanyin, Kangxi (1661–1722), the Bodhisattva standing upon a rock base with an elegant crowned headdress, height: 19 1/2in. (49.5cm.); condition: hands restored, chips to headdress and edges of robes, firing crack to headdress, two faint hairlines to body, the longest approx. 3in.the raised dot or urna in the centre of the forehead, flowing robes and elongated ear-lobes, a sign of wisdom. Guanyin in India is worshipped as the male god Avalokitesvara, but in China the deity gradually evolved into the compassionate female goddess who hears the cries of the world. [A near-identical figure at Burghley House is illustrated in Tharp, L., Hogarth's China, London 1997, fig.72; and for another from Hampton Court see Ayers, J., The Blanc de Chine Figure, Transactions of the Oriental Ceramic Society, vol.68 2003-4, fig.2, pg.16, also illustrated in Ayers, The Royal Collection, 2016, no.300] Provenence: Anthony du Boulay collection