#dehua ware

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪︎Tieguai, one of the Eight Immortals.

Place of Origin: China, Fujian province

Style or Ware: Dehua ware

Period: Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Reign of the Qianlong emperor (1736-1795)

Medium: Porcelain

[orientallyyours]

Brush rest moulded in the form of a dragon climbing out of the sea onto rocks, or the shores of the Islands of the Blest, supposedly situated in the Eastern Sea. According to Daoist belief, if one could find these islands, immortality was assured from drinking the water there and eating the sacred fungus which grew there. Blanc de chine is another name for the white porcelain of Dehua, and was produced for both the foreign and local markets. This object would have been made purely for the Chinese market for use on a scholar’s desk. Dehua ware of the Kangxi reign (Qing dynasty). Place of origin: Fujian Province. Dimensions: 5.3 x 10.5 x 4.2cm. Accession number: 352.1987

Source: Art Gallery of New South Wales

[fishstickmonkey]

Zhenwu, Daoist Lord of the Northern Palace

Period: Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Kangxi period (1662–1722)            

Date: early 18th century

Culture: China

Medium: Porcelain with ivory glaze (Fujian Province; Dehua ware)

Metropolitan Museum of Art  

[orientallyyours]

Images 1 & 2: Dehua porcelain figure of a seated Guanyin 觀音 (the Bodhisattva of Compassion) holding a basket containing fish (referring to her rescue of one of the sons of the Dragon King), while leaning against an ornamental rock on the edge of a shore with waves lapping at the edges. Date: Qing dynasty, 18th-19th c. Height: 15.3 cm. Museum number: PDF.415

Image 3: A Dehua reclining Guanyin from the 20th century. The figure is modelled reclining on a bed of leafy lotus borne on frothing waves. The lotus blooms are a reference to her rebirth and are an emblem of purity. Length: 29.5 cm

Image 4: A late Qing dynasty-Republic period Dehua figure of Guanyin seated on a tall rocky outcrop with legs crossed and one arm bent to support a ruyi sceptre. A smiling acolyte stands on a leaf above crashing waves. The back of the sculpture is impressed with a Dehua double-gourd-shaped mark and a seal mark, Xu Yunlin zhi (made by Xu Yunlin). Height: 37.5 cm

Image 5: A 17th century large Dehua figure of Guanyin, modelled standing on a rocky base buffeted with waves. The back is impressed with a He Chaozong seal mark. Height: 51.5 cm. 

Sources: British Museum, Sotheby’s, Christie’s- 1, 2

[orientallyyours]

Goddess Crossing the Sea (Guo hai Guanyin)

Dehua ware (blanc de chine) porcelain from the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Dimensions: 47.1 x 15.0 x 13.1 cm

From the Art Institute’s website:

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.

Sources: The Art Institute of Chicago

[acrosscenturiesandgenerations]

▪Bodhisattva Guanyin of the South Sea: Dehua Ware. Date: 17th Century Place of origin: China, Fujian Province Period: Ming dynasty (1368-1644) - Qing dynasty (1644-1911) Medium: Porcelain with white glaze