A large blanc de Chine figure of Guanyin by the sea. Dehua, atelier Xu Youyi (1887-1940). Early 20th century
Standing with extended left foot on a rounded base lapped by swirling and foaming waves moulded in relief, holding a lotus leaf basket containing a sacred carp in her right hand, her left holding the hem of the loose robes falling in graceful folds around the body tied with a tassel and embellished with jewels, wearing a necklace with a pendant in shape of a lotus, there is an urna on her forehead and her eyelids are lowered, her high-piled hair dressed in a topknot secured by a hairpin, two strands of hair falling over her shoulders. To the reverse two faintly impressed seal marks, the square mark, Xu Yuyuan zhi (Made by Xu Yuyuan), and the gourd-shaped Dehua mark.
Height 83 cm
Xu Youyi (1887-1940), his business name was Xu Yuyuan and his nickname Xu Yunlin, grew up in a family of Buddhist sculpture makers. He was a student and follower of the famous potter Su Xuejin (1869-1919), who was he leader of a major revival in the art of the porcelain figure model that took place towards the end of the 19th century.
While Donnelly believed Xu Youyi to be a late 18th-century potter, John Ayers identified the seals and assigned them to the well-known Dehua potter. The standing Guanyin draws on the style of Ming period porcelain figurines as made by the famous potter He Chaozong in the Dehua kilns in Fujian in the early 17th century. Xu Youyi, along with Su Xuejin and other potters, is part of the revival of this art that began in the late 19th century. In 2002, some of his figurines were exhibited at the China Institute in New York (no. 72-74 and no. 77).
二十世紀初 德化白釉鱼篮觀音過海立像
《許裕源製》、《德化》款
來源：德國私人收藏，1978年6月20日購於倫敦蘇富比，編號130
Provenance
Private collection, Germany, acquired at Sotheby's, London, 20.6.1978, lot 130
Literature
Compare: P. J. Donnelly, Blanc de Chine, London 1969, pl. 157; John Ayers, Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain, New York 2002