Lot 108 十七世紀 德化白釉坐岩觀音像 | A RARE DEHUA FIGURE OF GUANYIN

十七世紀 德化白釉坐岩觀音像 | A RARE DEHUA FIGURE OF GUANYIN

17th century

HKD 300,000

HKD 300000 - 500000

未知

未知

17th century
The deity crisply and heavily potted seated on a well sculptured rockwork, with her robes elaborately folded over her crossed legs with arms tucked, her eyes modelled with a meditative contemplation, with high arching brows, the layered robes loosely draped over her shoulders, gathering in voluminous folds and opening at the chest to reveal an elaborate beaded necklace, covered with a creamy glaze, fitted box.
36cm (14 5/8in) high (2).
Footnotes
十七世紀 德化白釉坐岩觀音像
Provenance:
C.C.Teng & Co., Taipei, 1987
Xianju Shuzhai Collection, 1989
Acquired in 2003
Exhibited, Published and Illustrated:
Exhibition of Ancient Chinese Ceramics, Kau Chi Society of Chinese Art, History Museum, Taipei, 20 April – 30 May 1982, p.142
慎德堂，台北，1987年
閒居書齋收藏，1989年
2003年購藏
《中國古陶瓷展》，香港求知雅集，歷史博物館，1982年4月20日至5月30日，頁142
Compare a similar Dehua seated figure of Guanyin, impressed double-gourd mark, Ming dynasty, in the Qing Court Collection, and formerly located at the Buddha Hall of the Palace of Compassion and Tranquility (Cining Gong), in the Palace Museum, Beijing, illustrated in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum, vol. I, Beijing, 2016, no.26; and another Dehua figure of Guanyin, also with an impressed double-gourd mark, early seventeenth century, illustrated in R.H.Blumenfield, Blanc De Chine: The Great Porcelain of Dehua, California, 2002, no.132. Both figures exhibit identical serene facial expression to the present lot, as well as similarly draped in heavy, fluid robes that pool gracefully around their lower bodies in smooth, cascading folds, and with their hands skilfully concealed within voluminous sleeves, reflecting a shared sculptural heritage and masterly ceramic execution.
He Chaozong's importance lies not merely in his command of the medium, but in his transformative role in the evolution of Dehua sculpture. Working in a material traditionally used for altar figures and devotional wares, he elevated porcelain into a medium of aesthetic and metaphysical resonance, creating works that speak as much to scholarly taste as to spiritual aspiration. The present figure embodies this dual legacy; worldly elegance paired with otherworldly calm, and stands as a rare, signed example of one of the greatest ceramic sculptors in Chinese art history. It is in such works that the boundary between mortal poetry and immortal presence seems, quite deliberately, to dissolve.
The portrayal of Guanyin seated upon a craggy, perforated rockwork base directly references Mount Potalaka (), the sacred sea-girt mountain retreat described in the Sutra as the dwelling place of the Bodhisattva. In late Ming and early Qing ceramic art, this grotto iconography held profound resonance for scholar-literati collectors, who associated rugged rock formations with natural purity and quiet meditation. Technically, the deeply undercut and hollow rockwork base was a masterstroke of Dehua engineering, facilitating even heat distribution and allowing trapped gases to escape freely from the thick porcelain core during high-temperature firing.
See an example of a Dehua figure of a seated Guanyin and child on rockwork, two impressed marks, 17th century, which was sold at Bonhams London, 16 May 2013, lot 18.
可比較清宮舊藏一尊明代德化白釉觀音坐像，「何朝宗」葫蘆形印款，原陳設於慈寧宮佛堂，現藏於北京故宮博物院，著錄於《故宮博物院藏德化窯瓷器（上）》，北京，2016年，編號26；亦可參考另一尊十七世紀初德化白釉觀音像，同帶「何朝宗」葫蘆形印款，著錄於R.H. Blumenfield《Blanc De Chine: The Great Porcelain of Dehua》，加利福尼亞，2002年，編號132。此兩尊造像與本品均具寧謐之面相，衣袍重厚流暢，層層垂墜，優雅地聚於下身，雙手巧施於寬大袖中，展現出同源之雕塑傳統與出神入化之瓷雕技藝。
何朝宗在中國瓷塑史之地位，不僅在於其對材質之精準掌控，更在於其對德化瓷雕演進之開創性貢獻。他以傳統用於供奉佛像及禮器之瓷土為媒材，將陶瓷提升至具備美學與形而上意境之藝術境界，創作出一系列兼具文人雅趣與宗教精神之傑作。本尊造像正完美體現了此種雙重傳承：世俗之高雅與出世之寧靜交相輝映。正是在此類傑作中，凡塵之詩意與仙佛之神韻，似乎被刻意地融為一體，臻於化境。
觀音菩薩端坐於嶙峋透空山石之上之造型，直接投射了《華嚴經》中所記載觀音菩薩之道場——普陀山。明末清初，此種洞天山石之造像題材於文人雅士間引發深遠共鳴，蓋因其將崎嶇山石視為自然純潔與靜慮思惟之象徵。於技藝層面而言，此種深雕鏤空之山石座亦為德化窯製瓷工藝之妙筆，能在高溫燒造過程中促進熱量均勻傳導，並利於厚重瓷胎內部之氣體順暢排出。
另可參考一尊十七世紀德化白瓷送子觀音像，背蓋兩方「何朝宗印」印款，售於倫敦邦瀚斯，2013年5月16日，拍品編號18。