This blanc de chine (literally, white [porcelain] of China) figure of Madonna holding Infant Jesus, is depicted with tight curls of hair and dressed in a long flowing robe. Infant Jesus holds an orb topped with a cross in one hand, and a rosary in the other. The Christian subject matter highlights one of the ways in which Chinese potters catered to the demands of their foreign customers and the broad appeal of Chinese porcelain in the late 17th to 18th centuries. Such devotional figures in blanc de chine may have been modelled after carved wooden figures produced in Christian settlements in the Philippines or India, and possibly commissioned by Catholic missionaries. They may also have been destined for export to Europe, where blanc de Chine porcelain was in high demand for its purity of glaze and material.
