46 - White China porcelain statuette depicting a Dutch merchant, China, Dehua, Kangxi period (1662–1722)

White China porcelain statuette depicting a Dutch merchant, China, Dehua, Kangxi period (1662–1722) The Dutchman is depicted smiling, seated on a base with a molded decoration of two birds among flowering branches, his left leg bent and his right hand resting on his right thigh. He is dressed in a long buttoned jacket, boots, and a hat from which long hair spills out. This is a well-known and famous model, examples of which are housed at the Guimet Museum, the V&A, and the British Museum. Our example is incomplete—on the original model, a small monkey, missing here, climbs up the figure’s right leg. Similarly, the left hand normally holds what is believed to be a banana, but this was reinterpreted during the restoration of the figure’s hand. Height: 34 cm Broken head reattached, extensive restoration, monkey missing.