Lu Dong Bin was one of the Eight Daoist Immortals, whose symbol is the sword (worn across his back), which he used to slay dragons. He also carries a fly-whisk symbolising his ability to fly through the air. This is a modern slip-cast piece. The applied beads, robes and head of the scabberd mounted on the figure's back illustrate the continued use of decorative details at Dehua today. Slipcasting is a technique for the mass-production of pottery. A liquid clay body slip is poured into plaster moulds and allowed to form a layer, the cast, on the inside cavity of the mould.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.
