These vases with applied lion masks on the sides, are quite thinly potted. The cold white glaze provides a stark background for the colourful overglaze enamels. The design of birds perched on flowering branches, in red, green, turquoise and black enamels was painted in a lively style. The red and black enamels were used for the outlines and details while the green and turquoise provided larger areas of colour. The decoration on these pieces is very similar to wares from the neighbouring prefecture of Zhangzhou (also called ‘Swatow’ wares), a probable source of enamelling on Dehua wares. Zhangzhou wares were exported in large quantities to Japan and Southeast Asia during the late 16th century from the then thriving port of Yue Gang in Zhangzhou. It is possible that Dehua products supplemented this trade and were perhaps even decorated at the Zhangzhou kilns.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.
