This rare figure in deep meditation is probably that of Shakyamuni, the name given to Buddha before he attained enlightenment. He is seated on a bed of leaves with a rockwork base. More recently this figure has been interpreted as Da Mo (Bodhidharma) undergoing a nine-year period of meditation after his journey across the Yangzi to the Shao Lin temple in Luoyang. Its unique sculptural qualities - the chiselled features of an Aryan Shakyamuni absorbed in meditation, each hair curl rolled and applied by hand, the emaciated torso with protruding ribs and backbone, the separately modelled arms and hands and legs shrouded in loose trousers tied below the knees, seem to have been completely hand-modelled.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.
