Standing Bodhidharma

The Indian monk Bodhidharma traveled to China across the sea in the sixth century to preach the Buddhist Chan doctrine. Not long after his arrival, he was granted an interview with emperor Liang Wudi (r. 502-550). He then traveled north along the river to the Shaoling Monastery on Mount Song in Henan province. He spent nine years meditating facing a cave wall. Before he went on with his journey, he left his mantle to his disciple. A legendary figure in Chinese Buddhism, Bodhidharma was regarded as the first patriarch of Chan meditation school.
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.
Perhaps it is because of the unique beauty of Dehua ceramics that they were primarily ritual objects and religious figurines. There are several white glazed Dehua sculptures of Avalokitesvara, the goddess of Mercy, in the Palace Museum’s collection, which suggests that the white glaze was considered best for presenting lofty figures and inspiring religious devotion.