A large Fahua figure of a Daoist deity, Ming dynasty, 15th/16th century | 明十五/十六世紀 琺華道教神仙坐像

Collection of The Hon. Mrs Nellie Ionides (1883-1962), Buxted Park.

Sotheby's London, 13th October 1964, lot 510.

Collection of Dr Wou Kiuan (1910-1997). 

Wou Lien-Pai Museum, 1968-present, coll. no. M.1.3.

Nellie Ionides 女士 （1883-1962）收藏

倫敦蘇富比1964年10月13日，編號510

吳權博士（1910-1997）收藏

吳蓮伯博物院，1968年至今，編號M.1.3

Rose Kerr et al., Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum, Hong Kong, 2011, pl. 107.

柯玫瑰等，《Chinese Antiquities from the Wou Kiuan Collection. Wou Lien-Pai Museum》，香港，2011年，圖版107

This figure is a large example of the religious ceramic sculptures typical of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). Fahua refers to a palette which combines a variety of low-fired overglazes, such as turquoise, ink blue, amber yellow, as seen on this piece. Compare, for example, a smaller seated Daoist deity figure, covered mostly in emerald green and yellow glazes, dated to the seventeenth year of the Chenghua reign (1481), formerly in the collection of Harrison Cady, now preserved in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, accession no. 1971.163.