Standing Bodhidharma from Dehua Kiln

In the collection of the Palace Museum, a white ceramic statuette of Bodhidharma is distinguished by a broad forehead, long ears, and curly beard. He is standing on the sea, his left foot exposed, and the hem of his gown blowing in the wind. His perceptive eyes are gazing into the distance, while one hand is cupped in the other before his chest, with a dignified air. The lustrous white glaze is no hype. Since the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), workers in the Dehua kiln located in south China's Fujian province have pursued a perfect jade-like glaze for their ceramics. At once austere and serene, the white glaze is popularly called "ivory white” or "pork oil white”. The French fondly called the exported ceramics from Dehua kiln "Chinese white” or "velvet white”. This figurine demonstrates the consummate skills of ceramic sculpting and firing at the time at the Dehua kilns.