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.
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Artwork Details
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明晚期 德化窯白瓷達摩坐像
Title:Bodhidharma in meditation
Period:Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
Date:17th century
Culture:China
Medium:White porcelain with transparent glaze (Dehua ware)
Dimensions:H. 11 3/4 in. (29.8 cm); W. 7 1/2 (19 cm); D. 5 1/2 in. (14 cm)
Classification:Ceramics
Credit Line:Gift of Mrs. Winthrop W. Aldrich, Mrs. Arnold Whitridge, and Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse, 1963
Object Number:63.176
Fujian Province
Mrs. Winthop W. Aldrich, Mrs. Arnold Whitridge, Mrs. Sheldon Whitehouse , (until 1963; donated to MMA)
New York. China Institute in America. "Blanc de Chine," September 19, 2002–December 8, 2002.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Secular and Sacred: Scholars, Deities, and Immortals in Chinese Art," September 10, 2005–January 8, 2006.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings," March 1–August 10, 2008.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The Art of Dissent in 17th-Century China: Masterpieces of Ming Loyalist Art from the Chih Lo Lou Collection," September 6, 2011–January 2, 2012.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Children to Immortals: Figural Representations in Chinese Art," August 9, 2018–January 3, 2021.
Lippe, Aschwin. The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin: Incorporating the Annual Report for 1963–64, n.s., 23, no. 2 (October 1964). p. 71.
Masterpieces of Fifty Centuries. Exh. cat. New York: E.P. Dutton & Co., 1970, p. 244, cat. no. 257.
Valenstein, Suzanne G. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975, pl. 115.
Suzanne G. Valenstein. "Highlights of Chinese Ceramics." The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, n.s., 33, no. 3, Autumn 1975. fig. 31.
Valenstein, Suzanne G., Julia Meech, and Marilyn Jenkins. Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections. vol. 12, limited ed. ed., Tokyo: Kōdansha International Ltd., 1977, color pl. 42.
Meech, Julia -Pekarik, Suzanne G. Valenstein, and Marilyn Jenkins-Madina. Oriental Ceramics: The World's Great Collections: The Metropolitan Museum of Art. vol. 11, Tokyo: Kodansha International, 1982, color pl. 23.
Barnhart, Richard M. (Introduction). The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Asia. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1987, p. 94, pl. 58.
Suzanne G. Valenstein. A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989, p. 204, fig. 197.
Dunne, Claire. Carl Jung: Wounded Healer of the Soul: An Illustrated Biography. New York: Parabola Books, 2000, p. 204.
Ayers, John. Blanc de Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain. Exh. cat. New York: China House Gallery, 2002, p. 79, cat. no. 30.
Leidy, Denise Patry. How to Read Chinese Ceramics. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, [2015], pp. 105–107, cat. no. 30.
Editorial Assistant Rachel High speaks with Denise Patry Leidy, Brooke Russell Astor Curator of Chinese Art, about her book How to Read Chinese Ceramics and the continued relevance of Chinese porcelain today.
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