LATE QING DYNASTY-REPUBLIC PERIOD, EARLY 20TH CENTURY

A Dehua standing figure of Buddha from the Richard Lehman Gray Collection bears the same two seals found on the present figure and is illustrated by J. Ayers in Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain, p. 121, no. 72. Ayers notes that the potter Xu Youyi (1887-1940) came from a family of wood and clay carvers and that his work " shows considerable versatility." He was the principal follower of Su Xuejin. Two large Dehua figures of temple guardians, illustrated ibid., p. 123, nos. 73-74, also bear the Dehua gourd mark and the seal of Xu Youyi.