Lot Essay
This rare figure belongs to a group of Dehua figures of Buddha that have been dated to the last years of the Ming dynasty, circa 1640. The figures share similar characteristics including a small head, a flat expanse of bare chest, unusually broad in the present figure, and the depiction of the lotus petals on the base. These features can be seen in a similar Dehua figure of Buddha, dated circa 1640, illustrated in the exhibition catalogue, Blanc de Chine, S. Marchant & Son, London, June 1994, no. 4. The figure is also shown in dhyanasana on a double lotus base, and the dhoti is gathered and tucked in a fashion almost identical to that of the present figure.