This light-hearted piece captures a kind of playful relationship between a gesturing master and his dog. The dog’s stylised almost cartoon-like appearance and the simple modelling of the figures are endearing qualities. Although pet dogs appear in other Dehua pieces with European figures, the relationship between humans and animals was not a new subject to Chinese art. For example, the appearance of pets in Chinese art can be seen in the Five Dynasties painting of court ladies with their pet dogs and cranes; part of a long tradition of court portraiture that goes back at least to the Han (206 BCE-220 CE).Dehua, located on the southeast coast of Fujian province, is well known for its production of white porcelain, known to Europeans as 'blanc de Chine'. The earliest Dehua porcelain was produced as early as the 14th century but the production and quality of these porcelain peaked around the 17th and 18th centuries.
