Seated Buddha Shakyamuni in Chinese white porcelain, China, Dehua kilns, Fujian province - Late Ming dynasty, late 16th - mid 17th century White enamelled porcelain figurine depicting Buddha Shakyamuni seated in meditation in the lotus posture (padmasana), hands clasped on the knees in dhyana mudra, palms open towards the sky according to canonical iconography. The head, surmounted by the characteristic ushnisha made up of small tight spherical curls, presents a face with finely modelled features, half-closed eyelids and lips slightly outlined in an inner smile. The monastic robe, with its wide, flowing pleats, leaves the right shoulder partially uncovered, in the tradition of Sino-Indian Buddhist statuary. The piece is mounted on a wooden base carved in the shape of a lotus flower. The open base reveals a white paste characteristic of Dehua kiln production, with ferruginous inlays testifying to the age of the piece. An antique label with an octagonal cartouche is glued to the back of the figure. H. 18 cm - (Carved wooden base, H. 4 cm) The enamel has the brilliance and milky hue typical of Ming-period "Chinese whites". To be compared with the same type and provenance in the Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. (inventory no. F1904.111, acquired in 1904 by Charles Lang Freer, (dimensions 17.2 × 12.8 cm), as well as with lot 94 offered by Bonhams (sale 29424) described as a Shakyamuni Buddha figure in Chinese white from the late Ming period.