A large sancai-glazed stoneware figure of an official Ming dynasty | 明 三彩文官立像

Large sculptures such as this figure were made in tilework manufactories employing the same materials and production methos as the colourful roof times made as architectural elements for temples and shrines. Both Buddhist and Daoist sancai-glazed stoneware figures were popularly commissioned during the Ming dynasty. Jessica Harrison-Hall notes that such figures 'were predominantly produced for religious purposes, while smaller figures were made to be given as auspicious presents or even to serve as objects of devotion', see Jessica Harrison-Hall, Ming Ceramics in the British Museum, London, 2001, pp. 537-543.