Lot 1134. A Dehua figure of Guanyin, Late Ming dynasty, 16th-early 17th century, Impressed He Chaozhong square mark; 28.9 cm high. Price realised HKD 1,016,000 (Estimate HKD 800,000 – HKD 1,000,000) © Christie's Images Ltd 2026

Provenance: C.T. Loo, Paris, according to label

A French private collection

Literature: Marchant, Blanc de Chine, London, 2024, p.809, no.1

Stuart Marchant, Marchant – One Hundred Years, vol. II (2001-2025), London, 2025, p. 543, no. 2085

Note: Three other closely related figures from the Qing Court collection are illustrated by Wang Yamin and Huang Weiwen in Dehua Wares Collected by the Palace Museum I, Beijing, 2016, nos. 26-28, pp. 92-101, no. 26 possesses a cowl, necklace and an identical base and was one of three Guanyin figures recorded as being worshipped at the Cining Palace; no. 27 has a necklace and the same base without the cowl and was worshipped in the Zhongcui Palace, built in the Yongle period, and used as a residence by the Ming and Qing emperors; no. 28 has a cowl and an identical base without the necklace and was recorded as being consecrated in the Chengde Summer Palace, with sutras placed within the figure during the Qianlong period, showing the status of this type of figures in the Qing Court.

Compare an almost identical Dehua figure of Guanyin with the same seal mark in the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, illustrated by Suzanne G. Valenstein in Ming Porcelains: A Retrospective, New York, 1970-1971, no. 69, p. 97.

A similar Guanyin bearing the same seal mark but without the cushion base from the collection of Mr. C. A. Weissing, was included by Marchant in their exhibition of Blanc de Chine, 2006, London, no. 3, pp. 12⁄13, and was featured on the front cover of Chinese Art Auction Records, London, 2008; another without a cowl and with a He Chaozong double-gourd mark, exhibited at the China Institute Gallery, New York, 2002 is illustrated by John Ayers in Blanc de Chine: Divine Images, no. 34, p. 83, and inside front cover.

Christie's. Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, Hong Kong, 30 April 2026