Image of seated Amitabha in ivory glaze

The Amitabha, Buddha of boundless splendors, is seated on a lotus throne with his hands resting on his crossed legs in dhyanimudra of meditation, holding mani, the felicitous pearl. A swastika is appliqued on his chest. The pedestal under the lotus throne is octagonal with oblong perforations on the sides. The feet of the pedestal are rendered in ruyi style. The body paste is yellowish buff and the glaze is of ivory tone with crackles and crazing. The base is unglazed but has a fabric pattern from the support in the modelling process when the paste was still wet. There is an incised dedicatory inscription which reads, “The disciple Chen Changchun, from Haicun village, beyond the Southern Gate, Haicheng county, Zhangzhou prefecture offered this to the Kaiyuan Temple in the bingchen year of the Jiajing reign of the Great Ming [corresponding to 1556 CE].”

In the 26th year of the Kaiyuan reign of the Tang dynasty (739) the Xuanzong emperor ordered each province to build one Kaiyuan Temple. The most well-known Kaiyuan Temple extant is the one in Quanzhou, Fujian. This figure was very probably dedicated to this temple. Zhangzhou is in the very southern tip of Fujian province, very near to modern Xiamen (Amoy) and Shantou (Swatow). The local gazetteer mentions that white ceramic wares were produced and Westerners for a long time used to call this group of Buddhist figures and household utensils “Dong-khe” ware, but people were unable to identify the exact kiln site responsible for the production. It was only in the last two decades, following recent archaeological investigations that the site was found. It is in Lower Dongxi in Sanyang village, Gao'an community, Hua'an county.