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Lot Essay
This exceptional figure embodies a profound spirituality achieved through the remarkable plasticity of drapery and form, arresting facial expression, and the near-perfect fusion of body and glaze. The figure represents the historical 6th-century monk known as Damo in China, Daruma in Japan, and Bodhidharma in India, whose teachings eventually became the foundation of Chan (Zen) Buddhism. Damo is shown here standing barefoot on a reed leaf crossing the Yangtze River to evade pursuers who disagreed with his specific approach to Buddhism, which emphasized meditation and direct experience over traditional Chinese Buddhist practices that focused on elaborate rituals and scriptures. Variously described in early texts as a monk of Central Asian or Persian origin, and later as of South Indian or Tamil origin, the face of the figure reveals the features of a person of non-Chinese origin.
This figure belongs to a small group of celebrated Dehua figures of Damo made by the venerated potter He Chaozong, who acquired fame during the 17th century for his mastery in modeling white-glazed porcelain figures known as 'blanc de chine' in the west, among which those of Damo are particularly rare. Although the details of He's life remain obscure, the existence of at least two Dehua figures bearing his mark and a cyclical date has led scholars to place his work in the early part of the 17th century (see J. Ayers, Blanc de Chine, p. 74. no. 25, for a figure of Guanyin inscribed with a cyclical date corresponding to 1619; see, also, Robert Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine, The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley, 2002, p. 165, figs. A & B, for a figure of Guanyin seated before an aureole bearing an inscription that includes a cyclical date of 1618).
The current figure exemplifies He’s powerful sculptural style, most notably seen in the sensitively rendered facial features, with piercing eyes enhanced by the curly eyebrows, mustache and goatee below the delicate urna centering the forehead, contrasting with the boldly depicted folds of the robe swept gracefully to one side and the turbulent, froth-capped waves on the base. An almost identical figure of Damo in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with an impressed mark on the back reading ‘He Chaozong zhi’, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, gongyi meishu bian 3: Taoci, Shanghai, 1993, no. 142. Another very similar figure with an impressed mark reading 'He Chaozong yin' is in the Wang Xin Lou Collection and illustrated in Blanc de Chine. Divine Images in Porcelain, China Institute Gallery, New York, 2002, no. 27. See, also, the similar figure, with a He Chaozong impressed mark within a double gourd, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 3120. (Fig. 1)
This figure was formerly in the collection of Anna Warren Ingersoll (1887-1980) (Fig. 2), a Philadelphia-born artist who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and whose paintings were exhibited at various institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her father, Charles Edward Ingersoll (1860-1932) (Fig. 3), was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and financier who achieved significant wealth through his involvement in the railroad industry. It is quite possible that Anna inherited the current figure from her father, Charles. It is also notable that Anna’s brother, R. Sturgis Ingersoll (1891-1973), was also major art collector and served as president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1948-1964. R. Sturgis and his wife, Marion B. F. Ingersoll (1893-1968), made a substantial donation to the Philadelphia Museum of Art that included works by such renowned artists as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Jacques Lipchitz.
This figure belongs to a small group of celebrated Dehua figures of Damo made by the venerated potter He Chaozong, who acquired fame during the 17th century for his mastery in modeling white-glazed porcelain figures known as 'blanc de chine' in the west, among which those of Damo are particularly rare. Although the details of He's life remain obscure, the existence of at least two Dehua figures bearing his mark and a cyclical date has led scholars to place his work in the early part of the 17th century (see J. Ayers, Blanc de Chine, p. 74. no. 25, for a figure of Guanyin inscribed with a cyclical date corresponding to 1619; see, also, Robert Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine, The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley, 2002, p. 165, figs. A & B, for a figure of Guanyin seated before an aureole bearing an inscription that includes a cyclical date of 1618).
The current figure exemplifies He’s powerful sculptural style, most notably seen in the sensitively rendered facial features, with piercing eyes enhanced by the curly eyebrows, mustache and goatee below the delicate urna centering the forehead, contrasting with the boldly depicted folds of the robe swept gracefully to one side and the turbulent, froth-capped waves on the base. An almost identical figure of Damo in the Palace Museum, Beijing, with an impressed mark on the back reading ‘He Chaozong zhi’, is illustrated in Zhongguo meishu quanji, gongyi meishu bian 3: Taoci, Shanghai, 1993, no. 142. Another very similar figure with an impressed mark reading 'He Chaozong yin' is in the Wang Xin Lou Collection and illustrated in Blanc de Chine. Divine Images in Porcelain, China Institute Gallery, New York, 2002, no. 27. See, also, the similar figure, with a He Chaozong impressed mark within a double gourd, sold at Christie’s Hong Kong, 26 November 2014, lot 3120. (Fig. 1)
This figure was formerly in the collection of Anna Warren Ingersoll (1887-1980) (Fig. 2), a Philadelphia-born artist who studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and whose paintings were exhibited at various institutions including the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her father, Charles Edward Ingersoll (1860-1932) (Fig. 3), was a prominent Philadelphia lawyer and financier who achieved significant wealth through his involvement in the railroad industry. It is quite possible that Anna inherited the current figure from her father, Charles. It is also notable that Anna’s brother, R. Sturgis Ingersoll (1891-1973), was also major art collector and served as president of the Philadelphia Museum of Art from 1948-1964. R. Sturgis and his wife, Marion B. F. Ingersoll (1893-1968), made a substantial donation to the Philadelphia Museum of Art that included works by such renowned artists as Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Jacques Lipchitz.