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Figure of Guanyin with a parrot

Dutch (Delft)
about 1700

Medium/Technique Tin-glazed earthenware, colored enamels
Dimensions Height : 37.5 cm (14 3/4 in.)
Credit Line The G. Ephis Collection—Museum purchase with funds donated anonymously, Charles Bain Hoyt Fund, John H. and Ernestine A. Payne Fund, Mary S. and Edward J. Holmes Fund, William Francis Warden Fund, Tamara Petrosian Davis Sculpture Fund, John Lowell Gardner Fund, Seth K. Sweetser Fund, H. E. Bolles Fund, and funds by exchange from the Kiyi and Edward M. Pflueger Collection-Bequest of Edward M. Pflueger and Gift of Kiyi Powers Pflueger
Accession Number2012.621
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsCeramicsPotteryEarthenware

DescriptionFigure of Guanyin decorated in polychrome blue, yellow, green, red, and manganese enamels, inspired by "famille verte" Chinese porcelain from the Kangxi period, dressed in a colorful robe with yellow and green motifs evoking the clouds and a blue pearl necklace with the Golden Fleece, holding a green parrot with a yellow beak in her right hand, one of the traditional attributes of Guanyin, the Buddhist goddess of compassion.






Marks Unmarked
InscriptionsTwo labels: "Aronson Antiquairs / Amsterdam"
"Collection G. Ephis / 055 DEL"
Provenance1990, G. Lafontaine, Belgium; November 6, 1990, posthumous Lafontaine and others sale, Christie’s, Amsterdam, lot 105. 1996, sold by Aronson Antiquairs (dealer), Amsterdam, to the G. Ephis collection (private collector), France; 2012, sold by the G. Ephis collection to the MFA. (Accession Date: October 24, 2012).