KANGXI 1662 – 1722 Blanc de Chine porcelain

A Large Kangxi Blanc de Chine Model of an Elegant Lady with a Phoenix c.1690-1710.

SOLD

 

Condition
n very good condition, the tip of one finger missing.
Size
Height : 43.5 cm (17 inches)
Provenance
From a Private European Collection of Chinese Export Porcelain Figures.
Stock number
23056
References
For a Blanc de Chine figure of this model see : Fine Chinese Export Porcelain, Paintings and Works of Art, Sotheby`s New York, January 18th 1996, lot 180. For a similar Blanc de Chine model see : Blanc de Chine (P.J. Donnelly, Faber and Faber, 1969. ISBN 571-08078-2) plate 103 B.

Photos

Information

Blanc de Chine Porcelain :
The porcelain known in the West as Blanc de Chine was produced 300 miles south of the main Chinese kiln complex of Jingdezhen. The term refers to the fine grain white porcelain made at the kilns situated near Dehua in the coastal province of Fujian, these kilns also produced other types of porcelain. A rather freely painted blue and white ware, porcelain with brightly coloured `Swatow` type enamels as well as pieces with a brown iron-rich glaze. However, it is the white Blanc de Chine wares that have made these kilns famous. The quality and colour achieved by the Dehua potters was partly due to the local porcelain-stone, it was unusually pure and was used without kaolin being added. This, combined with a low iron content and other chemical factors within the body, as well as the glaze, enabled the potters to produce superb ivory-white porcelain. White porcelain was made at the Dehua kilns from early times, some books refer to the white porcelain produced during the Yuan period as being Blanc de Chine, but I think it is not really until the latter stages of the Ming dynasty, during the late 16th century, that a porcelain with clearly recognisable Blanc de Chine characteristics was produced. There is a theory that there was a brake in production during a large part of the 18th century. I am highly sceptical of this, it seams likely that Blanc de Chine porcelain was made all the way through, uninterrupted from the Ming dynasty to the present day.