Floral-shaped cups with pale ivory glaze such as this piece, are thought to be the earlier types of Dehua wine cups. Indulging in wine had long been the accepted method amongst the literati for inducing creativity, spontaneity and a heightened sense of identification with the universe. A cup of this sort would have appealed to the literati, which regarded the appreciation of flowers as a scholarly pastime.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.
