MING DYNASTY, EARLY 17TH CENTURY, IMPRESSED LIN CHAOJING MARK

Lin Chaojing (dates unknown) is believed to be a contemporary of He Chaozong, who was working during the 16th and early 17th centuries, and in 1612 is mentioned in Quanzhou Fu Zhi, a record of the history of the Quanzhou District of Fujian province. The present figure can be compared to a seated figure of Guanyin (15 ½ in. high) bearing the mark of He Chaozong, illustrated by R. H. Blumenfield in Blanc de Chine: The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley/Tokyo, 2002, p. 130 A, where it is dated early 17th century, and on the cover, and to another figure, very similar to the Blumenfield Guanyin, also by He Chaozong, (15 1/8 in. high), illustrated by J. Ayers in Chinese Ceramics: The Koger Collection, London/New York, 1985, no. 147. The double-lotus throne of each figure is encircled by a similar band of beads, and each figure has a cowl draped over what are most likely similar looped topknots behind a lotus crown centered with the figure of Amitabha.