Blanc de Chine, meaning ‘white from China’, (often known as Dehua porcelain) is the name given specifically to the delicate white porcelain that was – and still is – manufactured in the kaolin-rich, south-eastern Chinese coastal town of Dehua in central Fujian province.

History: While white Dehua porcelain has been produced in China since the Song dynasty (960 – 1279) Blanc de Chine was the name given to the super-white, fine porcelain manufactured during the Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644) and beyond by French connoisseurs as what became Blanc de Chine antiques entered the European market in big numbers during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.