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Lot Essay
Pu-tai Ho-Shang is a half-legendary Chinese monk who lived in the 10th century AD and known as the god of happiness and well-being who in Japan is called Ho-tai. Figures of Pu-tai were very popular in the Oriental world and they were kept in the homes as a talisman. In popular belief three strokes over his paunch were considered to bring good luck.
Although probably modelled after original Chinese blanc-de-chine examples, this Delft piece shows some remarkable changes owed to the European misperception of an Oriental figure. Pu-tai's characteristical large hanging earlobes are painted blue as if they were part of the collar of the robe. The Dutch additions of the Goudse pipe, teabowl and hat, as well as the tobacco or tea leaves along his robe, stress the emblematic contentment with the new oriental luxuries and symbolises its origin from an exotic world.
For similar examples, see J. Kybalová, Delftská Fajáns ve sbírkách Umleckoprumyslového muzea v Praze, Prague, 1973, pp. 66-67, ill. cat. no. 72 (Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague);
J. Stodel, Exhibition catalogue The Splendour of Dutch Delftware, London, 1993, p. 36, ill. 20.
Although probably modelled after original Chinese blanc-de-chine examples, this Delft piece shows some remarkable changes owed to the European misperception of an Oriental figure. Pu-tai's characteristical large hanging earlobes are painted blue as if they were part of the collar of the robe. The Dutch additions of the Goudse pipe, teabowl and hat, as well as the tobacco or tea leaves along his robe, stress the emblematic contentment with the new oriental luxuries and symbolises its origin from an exotic world.
For similar examples, see J. Kybalová, Delftská Fajáns ve sbírkách Umleckoprumyslového muzea v Praze, Prague, 1973, pp. 66-67, ill. cat. no. 72 (Museum of Decorative Arts, Prague);
J. Stodel, Exhibition catalogue The Splendour of Dutch Delftware, London, 1993, p. 36, ill. 20.