A Dehua figure of Guanyin, 17th century. Estimate $30,000 – $50,000. Photo Christie's Image Ltd 2015

The figure is shown seated with her head slightly inclined, and hands hidden within the folds of the full robes wrapped around her body. She wears an ornate bead necklace, and the hair is pulled up into a high chignon. The maker's mark He Chao Zong is incised within a double gourd on the back. The glaze is of ivory tone. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm.) high, wood stand

Provenance: Private collection, Holland.

Notes: A similarly modeled figure of Guanyin, also bearing the mark of He Chao Zong, but with the hands revealed to hold a rosary and a scroll, in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is illustrated by P. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine, New York, 1969, pl. 146, fig. A.

A Guanyin in a similar pose with He Chaozong mark, from The Grandidier Collection in The Musée Guimet, Paris is illustrated by Albert Le Bonheur in The World’s Great Collections, Oriental Ceramics, vol. 7, color plate 31; another,from The J. M. Hu Collection, was sold by Christie’s New York, 14th/ 15th September 2009, lot 408.

Christie's. FINE CHINESE CERAMICS AND WORKS OF ART, 17 - 18 September 2015, New York, Rockefeller Plaza