A LARGE 'BLANC DE CHINE' FIGURE OF SAMANTABHADRA BODHISATTVA...

Estimate

£300 - £500

A LARGE 'BLANC DE CHINE' FIGURE OF SAMANTABHADRA BODHISATTVA ON AN ELEPHANT, LATE QING / REPULIC PERIOD
德化白瓷普贤菩萨像 晚清/民国
The elephant finely modelled standing foursquare and turning its large head to its right, wearing a tasselled collar and its back draped with a folded lotus leaf and lotus-bud tied in a ribbon, beneath a large lotus base supporting the female deity seated in meditation, her right hand grasping further lotus bud and leaves, dressed in elaborate robes and adorned with jewelled lotus pectoral, armbands, all framed by long fluttering scarves
41cm high

Provenance: English Private Collection
NOTE:
The modelling of the elephant is impressively executed and a very similar model of a bodhisattva riding an elephant, derived from classical Buddhist iconography of Samantabhadra identified with the elephant, is illustrated R. Blumenfield, Blanc de Chine. The Great Porcelain of Dehua, Berkeley, 2002, pp. 203-4, and frontispiece. A related figure was sold in Sotheby's NY, 9th November 2005, lot 774.