A Dehua blanc de chine figure of Guanyin – £39,000 at Bellmans.
A Dehua blanc de chine figure of Guanyin sold for a surprise £39,000 – some 130 times the top estimate – at Bellmans in Wisborough Green last month, writes Roland Arkell.
While auctioneer Silas Currie said opinions were mixed as to the date of the piece, at least two bidders on February 26 were confident the figure was by He Chaozong, the celebrated early 17th century potter who worked at the Dehua kilns in Fujian province, or a contemporary.