Lot 335. A Rare Blanc-De-Chine Figure of Damo, Late Ming Dynasty; 20.3 cm., 8 in. Estimate 2,000—3,000 GBP. Lot sold 7,500 GBP. Photo courtesy Sotheby's 2008

the bearded ascetic seated in meditation upon a rockwork base, the folded legs and hands hidden beneath the wrapped folds of the robes, secured at the waist with a high belt but leaving the chest bare, the beard incised with scrolls and the forehead set with an urna, all framed by a high hooded cowl, the back moulded with the sealmark Hui Jiang Shan Ren ('Hermit of the Hui River'), wood stand. 

Provenance: Pierre Saque, Paris (according to label).

Note: Robert Blumenfield discusses this late Ming maker in R. Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine. The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley, 2002, pp. 139, whose works are rather rare. For a seated Guanyin figure with similar mark, see P.J. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine, London, 1969, pl. 82A, and a standing Buddha with this rare mark, also fired to this rather unusual and distinctive yellowish glaze tone, was recently exhibited in Blanc de Chine, S. Marchant & Son Ltd., London, 2006, cat. no. 4.

Sotheby's. Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art. 05 Nov 08. London