Notes:
Provenance: The Mujintang collection, Taipei (222). A similar figure is in the British Museum (1980,0728.91), previously in the P. J. Donnelly collection, illustrated and discussed in P.J.Donnelly, Blanc De Chine (London, 1969, plate 122A, pp. 195-96). Another similar example was in the Mottahedeh Collection, illustrated and discussed by D. Howard & J. Ayers, China for the West (vol. I, London, 1978, cat no. 50, p. 91). Another version of this figure is known, with the Christ child in the opposite arm; see Marchant, 'Blanc de Chine' ed. John Ayers, London, 2006, plate 44., p.70, where the author states that ‘several variations of this model of a Christian subject are known. All were probably made to the order of Catholic missionaries brought to the East by the Portuguese or Spanish and perhaps copy carvings produced in Christian settlements in India or the Philippines. ‘Sancta Marias’ are named in the list of cargo loaded by the English East Indiaman, Dashwood at Amoy in 1701 and sold at auction in London in 1703 as recorded by Geoffrey Godden in Oriental Export Market Porcelain, p.266 who illustrates the other version from the P.J. Donnelly collection.’
