Seated in the posture of 'royal ease' ('rajalalitasana'), this figure is elaborately decorated. The cowl is unusually draped from a knot of hair at the top of the head, a large diadem with a Buddha figure and a string of beads were applied to the head, and the necklace comprises a large lingzhi fungus pendant and beads. The hands rest over the right knee, a vase or ambrosia bottle held as if pouring soothing holy water on a troubled world. The vase was one of the attributes depicted together with a willow spray in Tang rock sculptures of Guany in Northern Sichuan. These attributes signified her healing powers; the ambrosia dispensed with the use of the willow branch, cured and conferred immortality on those in need.Dehua, located on the southeast coast of Fujian province, is well known for its production of white porcelain, known to Europeans as 'blanc de Chine'. The earliest Dehua porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century but the production and quality of these porcelain peaked around the 17th and 18th centuries.
