LATE MING DYNASTY, 17TH CENTURY, IMPRESSED HE CHAOZONG MARK

Wenchang, the deity who is represented as an earthly minister, is believed to have assisted devotees in achieving success in the civil service examinations, and is therefore regarded as one of the gods who facilitated the path to social acceptance and material rewards. A nearly identical figure of Wenchang, also bearing a He Chaozong yin maker’s mark, from the Koger Collection is in the John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, The State Art Museum of Florida, and is illustrated by S. Marchant & Son, in the exhibition catalogue, Blanc de Chine, 1985, p. 7, no. 3. This figure is also illustrated by J. Ayers in Blanc de Chine, Divine Images in Porcelain, China Institute, New York, 2002, p. 89, pl. 40. Another example is in the Hickley Collection, Singapore, and is illustrated by R. Kerr and J. Ayers in Blanc de Chine, Porcelain from Dehua, Chicago, 2002, no. 27. See, also, the similar figure without rockwork in the Fujian Provincial Museum, illustrated by Chen Cunxi and C.T. Yeung in Dehua Wares, Hong Kong, 1990, p. 115, no. 103.