Budda in Blanc-de-chine

[Photo by Jiang Dong/China Daily]

The Dehua Kiln in Fujian province is well known to have produced exquisite blance-de-chine, a French term for Chinese white porcelain for centuries.

An exhibition at the National Museum of China displays the latest development of the Dehua white porcelains by showing dozens of Buddhist images created by Lian Zihua, an inheritor of Dehua white porcelain.

Lian, 45 and a native of Dehua, has been endeavoring to translate the past glories of blance-de-chine into the modern context by perfecting the sculpting while retaining the warmth and grace of white porcelain.

Last year he spent eight months to create the blance-de-chine version of a Song Dynasty (960-1279) wooden Avalokitesvara figure, a first-class cultural relic of the national museum.

The exhibition runs until Jan 9.