Likely made for domestic use and worshipped on a small household altar, this figure represents Guanyin, the bodhisattva (‘enlightened being’) of mercy and compassion. One of the most popular Buddhist figures in China, she was the most common subject for figural ceramics produced at the Dehua kilns from the reign of the Wanli emperor (1573–1620) through to the end of the Qing dynasty.
