Title
Small oil lamp with water beetle, turtle and shrimp
Year/Period
Mid-17th century
Region
Dehua, Fujian province, China
Material
Dimension
Object size: H3.7 x Dia 8.8 cm
Accession No.
2000-03479
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Frank and Pamela Hickley
This vessel is thought to have been used as an oil lamp, perhaps on the scholar’s table during the early 18th century. A cylindrical holder at the centre would have held a wick which was fed with oil from the bowl. Modelled sea creatures including a water beetle, a turtle and a shrimp applied to the interior would have appeared under the light of the burning wick, as if in a sea of glowing oil.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.
