This is an unusual depiction of Guanyin seated in the meditation pose ('dhyanasana'), with a ruyi sceptre in her left hand. She wears a beaded diadem in her hair and necklace with a lingzhi-shaped pendant. In Buddhist art, deities are often seen with the ruyi. However, the origins of the ruyi sceptre, whether indigenous to China or if it was a Buddhist importation, as it bears resemblance to a lotus stalk and flower, remains unclear. The lotus is a symbol of Buddha himself, born on earth and rose above like the lotus that rises from the mud.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.
