Bodhidharma in meditation

China

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 205

Chinese white porcelain reached another summit during the seventeenth century in Dehua, a hilly region in the southeast coastal province of Fujian. The porcelain from the Dehua kilns is characterized by a thick, lustrous, clear glaze over an ivory-white paste body. Depicting the monk credited with founding the Chan (Zen in Japanese) sect of Buddhism, this sculpture perfectly illustrates these characteristic features of Dehua ware.

Widely exported to Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth century, Dehua white porcelain is generally referred to by French term blanc de chine, or “China white,” in Western writing.

#7436. Chan Patriarch Bodhidharma

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Bodhidharma in meditation, White porcelain with transparent glaze (Dehua ware), China

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