This pair of qilin seals on haunches were probably items on the scholar's desk. Moulded and hand-finished, they are solid and have a cold, milky-white glaze with a glassy appearance. Seals reflect the status and the identity of their owners. Despite the fact fired porcelain was harder to carve than soap stone, jade and ivory, Dehua seals were produced in some quantity. It is thought this was due to its likeness to white or 'mutton fat' jade which was admired by the literati. One of the reasons which could have made carving of the Dehua porcelain easier was firing it at a lower temperature.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.
