This figure of Guanyin has several hand-modelled and finished parts. She sits on a rock holding a scroll, reclining against an arm-rest with monster mask-shaped legs. The figure wears a simple bead necklace and bangles on her wrist and ankle. The potter has achieved fluidity and movement in the modelling of the loosely knotted hair, the folds of the robe and the texture of the rockwork. The hand and foot are also carefully modelled and incised. A square Xuande reign mark on the back refers to the 15th century Emperor Xuande (1426–1435). In Mahayana Buddhism, Guanyin is an enlightened being who postpones entering nirvana to remain with ordinary people to help them.Dehua, located on the southeast coast of Fujian province, is well known for its production of white porcelain known to Europeans as 'blanc de Chine'. The earliest Dehua porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century but the production and quality of these porcelain peaked around the 17th and 18th centuries.
