A rare blanc-de-Chine figure of Lü Dongbin

Impressed He Chaozong mark, 17th century

Footnotes

十七世紀 德化白瓷呂洞賓立像
「何朝宗」篆書葫蘆印款

Provenance: Dr Arthur Spriggs (1919-2015), acquired circa late 1950s from Hopkins at Oxford, and thence by descent

來源： Arthur Spriggs(1919-2015)醫生收藏，於約1950年代末購自牛津古董商Hopkins，並由後人保存迄今

Dr Arthur Spriggs (1919-2015)

Educated at Winchester and New College, Oxford, Arthur Spriggs was a distinguished medical scientist for much of his very long life. He held a number of senior positions at Oxford's Radcliffe Infirmary and Churchill Hospital where he lectured and published extensively in his specialist field of cancer research. His early published research was accompanied by illustrations of cell preparations carefully drawn (using a microscope) by his accomplished water-colourist wife Gereth. Later in his career he pioneered the use of electron microscopy in the observation of chromosome anomalies and the detection of cancers, establishing the first regional screening service.
Arthur's personal interests extended to botany (he created and maintained a large 'natural' garden at his home); molluscs and snails (an indefatigable field worker, he must have surveyed every square kilometre of Oxfordshire during his long but active retirement); and, of course, Chinese porcelain, especially 17th century blue and white. A keen supporter for many years of the London-based Oriental Ceramic Society, he presented a ground-breaking lecture in 1965 which documented certain types of Chinese and Japanese porcelain featured in Western paintings between AD 1450-1700; published in the Transactions', Vol.36, it stimulated further investigation into the handsome 'vanitas' oil paintings which greatly enhanced the houses of successful Netherlandish burghers during the 17th century 'Dutch Golden Age'.

He Chaozong (by tradition, AD1522-1612) is considered to be one of the greatest master potters of Dehua, creating elegant figures of pure white clay with a creamy pearl-like glaze. By incorporating various techniques of clay modelling, wood tooling and stone carving, he developed his own method which became known as the He School, and his works can now be found in the collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing and in important museums and private collections.

See a related blanc-de-chine figure of Wenchang by He Chaozong in the Koger Collection, early 17th century, with impressed square He Chaozong yin mark to the reverse, illustrated by J.Ayers in Blanc de Chine: Divine Images in Porcelain, New York, 2002, p.89, no.40. In this piece the consummate skill of the master is revealed by the luxuriantly sweeping robes and smooth, noble face, similar to the present lot.

Compare with a related blanc-de-chine figure of Wenchang, impressed He Chaozong mark, 17th century, seated on similar rockwork, sold at Sotheby's London on 4 November 2009, lot 243. Another related blanc-de-chine seated figure of Damo, 16th century, with similar gourd-shape impressed He Chaozong mark to the reverse, was sold at Christie's Hong Kong on 1 June 2016, lot 3324.