Cleveland Museum of Art

Figure of Budai or Hotei with Jar

Chantilly Porcelain Factory

Date

c. 1735–40

Medium

Tin-glazed soft-paste porcelain with enamel decoration

Culture

France, Chantilly, 18th century

Department

Decorative Art and Design

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

The production of decorative figures like this one, referred to as magots or pagodes in European texts, was the result of an 18th-century European interest in Chinese and Japanese culture and porcelain. Budai, pronounced Hotei in Japanese, was a semilegendary Chinese monk known in Japan through the transmission of Chan Bhuddism. This figure’s decoration with multicolor overglaze enamels on a milky-white is typical of Japanese Kakiemon style. In 1735, the Chantilly factory was given a 25-year royal privilege for the manufacture of objects that imitated Japanese porcelain.

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