Featured Chinese figurine.

Good guess. I also thought it was made as a toy for a child! But again, I couldn't find anything similar. Usually there are at least some similar ones, but this one is nothing close.

 

I'm no expert, but because the figurine's bottom is flat with a hole in it, some people think it's no older than the 18th century and from Europe. But judging by its size, such a bottom could have been logical earlier.

 

In person, the figurine looks extraordinary. It has a magical aura. The glaze is very beautiful; in different lighting, it changes color from milky white to a light blue and a hint of green—it's very unusual. The glaze seems to glow from within.

 

I found some interesting 17th-century figurines from a well-known collection. One is 5 cm, the other 6.5 cm. The horse also has a neat round hole in the back. Apparently, the horse's body is also hollow.

 

that's just the horses patootie .....

 

No, it's definitely not a horse's butt. It's technically a hole, since the figurine is hollow inside. Maybe it's just stylized that way.

Finally, I found something. This figurine is from the Victoria and Albert Museum.

 

An infant? Trussed up, as was the fashion in many places?

 

I couldn't find one in the same size. I liked the figurine because it's not clumsily made, but at the same time it's very well made. I can't explain how I felt about it. I really like the glaze and the way the head is done, the transition from the head to the body, and the neck. I thought the boy was holding something in his hand.

 

What does the V&A say about the age or origin of this figurine?

This one is in the British Museum, described as 18th century Chinese porcelain from Dehua, 3cm high -

https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/A_1980-0728-681?selectedImageId=1613895393

Unfortunately they do not include a view of the bottom.

 

An interesting figurine, but completely different in execution, including the glaze... a figurine without energy, in my opinion. It's not captivating, that's my opinion.
This is at least an example of similar figurines. On our figurine, the glaze looks very old and somehow special. It's very different. Although the figurine from the British Museum is cute)

 

must be worth a lot of money then , being that old and special ! Wow !

 

The point is to figure out what period the figurine is from. If it's a factory, then which one. If it's Chinese, then the region and period. Again, there are no analogues. And there's no point in counterfeiting such a trifle. Whether it's valuable or not is a secondary consideration. That will depend on who ultimately made it

 

It will be interesting if we can find out the origin

 

I found an interesting article.
It says that the technology existed: Indeed, during the Ming (and later, Qing) era, piece-mold casting was used to make Dehua porcelain. This technology allows for a smooth bottom.
There were holes: Scientific literature mentions that Dehua figurines from the Ming era are characterized by holes ("pierced faces for the escape of gasses").

 

Here is another one:

https://www.bukowskis.com/en/auctions/559/1410-a-cizhou-figure-of-an-infant-song-yuan-dynasty

Chinese women often wore pendants shaped like little children if they wanted to get pregnant. I wonder if these served the same purpose.

 

Beautiful doll) I read that they could also be used in tombs.

 

There is nothing unique, or particularly significant, in the fact that the figure has a flat bottom. If you have a culture familiar with flat surfaces, and you want a figure to stand up, you make it with a flat bottom. The need for vent holes has also been well known since antiquity in any culture that has produced pottery.

Larger figures that were made in multi-piece molds often have larger openings on the base. They were made by pressing flat pieces of clay into the mold, which leaves edges at the bottom the same thickness as the piece of clay used. A separate bottom piece might or might not be added.

If your figurine was made in a mold, duplicates might exist. If it was hand modelled from a lump of clay it may be a one-off and you will never find an exact duplicate. You might (carefully) use a wooden or plastic toothpick inserted through the vent hole to feel around to gauge the thickness of the walls. A mold-made piece would be more uniform in thickness.

You have said that there are numbers on the bottom, but if so they are not clear in your photographs. If there are numbers or other markings, that would be an important feature to document clearly and present here for us to assess.

 

If you are on FaceBook, there are a lot of groups that you might query. Or query an auction house. Those wrapped up infant figurines remind me of Frozen Charlotte ones.

 

Thank you for your reply. As far as I can make out, the numbers are written vertically on the bottom: 4 0 8.