Dutch Delftware Chinoiserie Quanyin group

Delft, ca. 1701-1721

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Origin:
Delft, factory 'De Grieksche A'
Date:
ca. 1701-1721
Dimensions:
17 x 12 x 9,5 cm
Master:
Pieter Adriaen Kocks
Marked:
PAK

Price on request

This group of statuettes is a very typical Delft object from the period around 1700. It is inspired by Chinese porcelain; however, people were not concerned with being limited to traditional images and often incorporated new elements into the decoration. In this way a highly artistic product is created in a manner that is unique in its own way and has never been shown before. Very shiny black (in the recess technique characteristic of PAK) is incorporated in the hexagonal base, which enhances the exotic appearance of the whole. The Quanyin, pictured cross-legged from the sea, should be sitting on a lotus flower.

In addition, this Chinese goddess of mercy is accompanied by two dragons from the Delft set that have emerged from the sea and are facing each other. This imagery was taken from a print with a depiction of a Quanyin by Martino Matinio published in Novus Atlas Sinesis in 1655 in Amsterdam. There, Quanyin sits on the usual lotus flower but lacks the perky dragon figures. Of this group of statues, only one other identical copy, also marked “PAK”, is known to exist, and is at the Kunstmuseum The Hague. It is part of the extensive legacy of A.H. van den Burgh from 1904.

Provenance: Paul Brandt Amsterdam, veiling 25-28 nov. 1969 nr. 778

 

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