Guanyin or Guanshiyin is the Bodhisattva of Compassion or the 'Bodhisattva who hears the cries of the world'. She is depicted here seated in dhyanasana (meditation pose) with a ruyi sceptre in her left hand, reclining against an arm-rest with monster mask-shaped legs. Whiteware such as these were made in Dehua, a district in Fujian province, that was famous for white porcelain, known to the Chinese as ‘zhuyoubai’ (pork-grease white) or ‘xiangyabai’ (ivory white), and to the Europeans as 'blanc de chine' (white porcelain). Dehua porcelain has a white body, consisting mostly of porcelain stone (‘baidunzi’) with minute amounts of clay. This porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century.
