Dehua porcelain
Dehua ware blanc de Chine figure of the Buddhist monk Budai, Qing dynasty (17th century).Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Branch	Chinese ceramics
Location	Dehua County, Fujian, China
Influences	Qingbai ware
Influenced	European porcelain figures (Meissen, Sèvres, Bow),Hirado ware

Dehua porcelain (Chinese:德化陶瓷;pinyin:Déhuà Táocí;Pe̍h-ōe-jī:Tek-hòe hûi), more traditionally known in the West asBlanc de Chine (French for "White from China"), is a type of whiteChinese porcelain, made atDehua in theFujian province. It has been produced from theMing dynasty (1368–1644) to the present day. Large quantities arrived inEurope asChinese export porcelain in the early 18th century and it was copied atMeissen and elsewhere. It was also exported toJapan in large quantities. In 2021, the kilns of Dehua were inscribed on theUNESCOWorld Heritage List along with many other sites nearQuanzhou for their importance for medieval maritime trade and the exchange of cultures and ideas around the world.^[1]

The area along the Fujian coast was traditionally one of the main ceramic exporting centers. Over one-hundred and eighty kiln sites have been identified extending in historical range from the Song period to present. The two principal kiln sites were those of Qudougong (屈斗宫) and Wanpinglun (碗坪仑). The Wanpinglun site is the older of the two and manufactured pressed wares and others. The kilns of Dehua also produced other ceramic wares, including some with under glaze blue decoration.^{[citation needed]}

From the Ming period porcelain objects were manufactured that achieved a fusion of glaze and body traditionally referred to as "ivory white" and "milk white". The special characteristic of Dehua porcelain is the very small amount ofiron oxide in it, allowing it to be fired in an oxidising atmosphere to a warm white or pale ivory color. This color makes it instantly recognizable and quite different from theporcelain from the Imperial kilns ofJingdezhen, which contains more iron and has to be fired in reduction (i.e., an atmosphere withcarbon monoxide) if it is not to appear an unpleasant straw color.^[2]

The unfired porcelain body is not very plastic but vessel forms have been made from it. Donnelly lists the following types of product: figures, boxes, vases and jars, cups and bowls, fishes, lamps, cup-stands, censers and flowerpots, animals, brush holders, wine and teapots,Buddhist andTaoist figures, secular figures and puppets. There was a large output of figures, especially religious figures, e.g.,Guanyin,Maitreya,Luohan andTa-mo figures. Guanyin, the Goddess of Mercy, was particularly revered in Fujian and there exist innumerable figures of her. Donnelly says, "There is no doubt that figures constitute the great glory ofblanc de Chine." Some have been produced with little modification from the late 16th or early 17th century.^[3] Crisply modeled figures with a smooth white glaze were popular as were joss-stick holders, brush pots,Dogs of Fo, libation cups and boxes.

The devotional objects produced at Dehua (incense burners, candlesticks, flower vases and statuettes of saints) "conformed to the official stipulations of the early Ming period, not only in their whiteness but also in imitating the shape of archaic ritual objects".^[4] They were probably used in the domestic shrines that every Chinese home possessed. However, oneConfucian polemicist,Wen Zhenheng (1585–1645), specifically forbade the use of Dehua wares for religious purposes, presumably for their lack of antiquity: "Among the censers the use of which should be specifically forbidden are those recently made in the kilns of Fujian (Dehua)."^[4]

The numerous Dehua porcelain factories today make figures and tableware in modern styles. During theCultural Revolution "Dehua artisans applied their very best skills to produce immaculate statuettes of the Great Leader and the heroes of the revolution. Portraits of the stars of the new proletarian opera in their most famous roles were produced on a truly massive scale."^[4]Mao Zedong figures later fell out of favor but have been revived for foreign collectors.

Precise dating ofblanc de Chine of the Ming andQing (1644–1911) dynasties is often difficult because the conservatism of the Dehua potters led them to produce similar pieces for decades or even for centuries. There areblanc de Chine figures made in Dehua today (e.g. the popular Guanyin and Maitreya figures) little different from those made in the Ming dynasty.

Notable artists inblanc de Chine, such as the late Ming periodHe Chaozong, signed their creations with their seals. Wares include crisply modeled figures,cups, bowls and joss stick-holders.

Dehua also made cheap "popular" porcelain wares for the Chinese market. Some 350,000 pieces of these were recovered from theTek Sing wreck, sunk in 1822 when sailing toIndonesia, and auctioned in Germany in 2000.^[5]

Many of the best examples ofblanc de Chine can also be found in Japan where they are used in family altars (butsudan) and other funerary and religious uses.^{[citation needed]} InJapan the white variety was termedhakuji,hakugorai or "Korean white", a term often found intea ceremony circles. TheBritish Museum in London has a large number ofblanc de Chine pieces, having received the entire collection of P.J.Donnelly as a gift in 1980.^[6]

Dehua white porcelain was traditionally known in Japan ashakugorai or “Korean White Ware.” Although Korai was a term for an ancient Korean kingdom, the term also functioned as a ubiquitous term for various products from the Korean peninsula.^{[citation needed]}

The Japanese knew of the existence of the Fujian province kilns and their porcelain, now known as Dehua or Blanc de Chine ware. The Dehua kilns are located inFujian province opposite the island of Taiwan. Coastal Fujian province was traditionally a trade center for the Chinese economy with its many ports and urban centers. Fujian white ware was meant for export to all of maritime Asia.

However a large quantity of these ceramics was intended for a Japanese market, before drastic trade restrictions by the mid 17th century. Items were largely Buddhist images and ritual utensils utilized for family altar use. An association with funerals and the dead has perhaps led to a disinterest in this ware among present day Japanese, despite a strong interest in other aspects of Chinese ceramic culture and history.

The very plain white incense tripods and associated objects for Japanese religious and ritual observance are also likely designed specifically for a Japanese market, as are the Buddhist Goddesses of Mercy with child figurines that closely resemble the ChristianMadonna and Child. Such figurines were known as Maria Kannon or “Blessed Virgin Goddesses of Mercy” and were part of the “hidden Christian” culture of Tokugawa Japan which had strictly banned the religion.

White porcelain Buddhist statuary was extensively produced in Japan at the Hirado kilns and elsewhere. The two wares can be easily distinguished. Japanese figures are usually closed on the base and a small hole for ventilation can be seen. Hirado Ware also displays a slightly orange tinge on unglazed areas.^{[citation needed]}

• 
  GuanyinBodhisattva made byHe Chaozong, a famed 17th-century artist from the Ming dynasty who fashioned mainly Buddhist white porcelain statuary in the tradition of the Dehua kilns in Fujian province.
• 
  Ascetic Buddha from late Ming dynasty
• 
  A decorated cup from late Ming dynasty
• 
  A white teapot from Dehua, c. 1690–1720. The base is inscribed with the name of theEmperor Xuande, who reigned from 1426 to 1435, more than 250 years before the teapot was made. The use of earlier reign marks has a long history in China, much to the vexation of modern researchers, and was intended to indicate respect rather than to deceive. The teapot's bold geometric design anticipates the forms of Europeanmodernism by more than two centuries.
• 
  A cup made atMeissen Porcelain Manufactory, Germany, c. 1725–1730. Although long-known in China, the technique of making hard-paste porcelain was not developed in Europe untilJ. F. Böttger's experiments atMeissen in the early 18th century. This little porcelain cup with its applied prunus or plum blossom decoration reflects the influence of a Chinese, "Blanc de Chine" porcelain prototype.
• 
  A modernBlanc de Chine teapot design
• 
  Dehua blanc de Chine figure of a seated hound, made for the European market, Qing dynasty (third quarter 18th century). Metropolitan Museum of Art.

• He Chaozong

• Ayers, J and Kerr, R., (2000),Blanc de Chine Porcelain from Dehua, Art Media Resources Ltd.,google books
• Moujian, S., (1986)An Encyclopedia of Chinese Art, p. 292.
• Shanghai Art Museum,Fujian Ceramics and Porcelain, Chinese Ceramics, vol. 27, Kyoto, 1983.
• Kato Tokoku,Genshoku toki daijiten (A Dictionary of Ceramics in Color), Tokyo, 1972, p. 777.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toDehua porcelain.

• A Handbook of Chinese Ceramics from The Metropolitan Museum of Art
• https://www.britannica.com/art/Dehua-porcelain

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• Chinese pottery
• Hokkien folk art
• History of Fujian

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