Jakabffy Imre szerk.: Az Iparművészeti Múzeum Évkönyvei 13. (Budapest, 1971)

HOPP FERENC MÚZEUM - MUSÉE FERENC HOPP - Horváth, Tibor: Report on the Activities of the Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts in 1969 and 1970

Fig. 6. China. Sealed Kuanyin, white porcelain, Te-hup Seventeenth century. I'm I T i ' TVT 1 chase. Inventory Number: 69.3. II.: 18 cm. ' The plastic ligure rendered in a precise and delicate manner is scaled on crossed legs on a lotus throne. Her left hand rests in her lap with a pearl in the palm, her right one is upraised with (he palm half-outward. lier long plaited hair, parted at the center, droops Iwo-sideways over her shoulders. On her head is a garland crown with a seated lit tic Buddha in the middle. Her whole body is ornamented by ropes of pearls done in relief. The flowing garment lets her bosom bare, and the loose sleeves flow down in folds. Her full and long-shaped face has a composed and impassive expression. She looks down with slightly lowered head. The whole figure is formed modelling on an ancient woman beauty. Its color is a soft smoky greyish white. Its surface is covered by glossy glaze. Insides there are deep firing cracks. Three fingers are broken down. In China the sex of Avalokitesvara was transformed in the eight century A. D. to Kuan-yin who was the Goddess of Mercy, giver of children and protector of fishermen. The modelling of Kuan-yin became a favourite theme no I only in the folk art, but also in fine arts. In porcelain she was often formed in white of various tints. Already from the Ming dynasty onwards white porcelains have been produced with lustrions glaze in the kilns of the town of Te-hua, Fukien Province. Although it is called while, the color is generally cream. The beauties of such monochrome pieces are displayed chiefly by the explicit, sensitive