This vessel is an enhanced form of the archaic bronze 'lian' or censer. The slightly curved walls are a unique attribute of wheel-thrown porcelain, and the undecorated surface reveals the purity of the classic ivory-toned Dehua glaze. Censers were used to burn incense sticks at the altar, although by the Ming dynasty (1368-1644 CE), their overriding appeal would have been decorative.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.
