Lot 322
322
A BLUE AND WHITE FIGURE OF BUDAI
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 2… Read more
A BLUE AND WHITE FIGURE OF BUDAI

WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)

Details
A BLUE AND WHITE FIGURE OF BUDAI
WANLI PERIOD (1573-1619)
Well modelled seated on a waisted double-lotus base, with the right knee raised, holding a pale blue strand of prayer beads in his right hand and a sack in his left detailed with a checkered pattern, wearing a loose robe parted at the front to reveal his rounded belly, the head with long pendulous ear lobes and hair stippled in underglaze-blue, his face with a jovial laughing expression, the unglazed base with a short shallow footrim
8 in. (20 cm.) high
Provenance
Property from an Important Asian Collection.
Sotheby's Hong Kong, Edward T. Chow Collection Part III, 19 May 1981, lot 417.
Special notice
VAT rate of 5% is payable on hammer price and at 20% on the buyer's premium.

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Lot Essay

The monk Budai, also known as the Laughing Buddha, is an incarnation of Maitreya, the bodhisattva predicted to succeed Gautama Buddha in the future. The name Budai refers to the cloth bag he carried that is said to contain cash and riches of all kinds, as well as to his rounded belly that represents contentment and abundance. Budai is also associated with the protection of children and is often shown with small children playfully climbing on his belly or back.

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