This cup is decorated with overglaze green and yellow enamels, painted onto the relief flower buds on the reverse and with red over the prunus flower on the front. The woody stem and supporting branches are enamelled with purple, while the motifs are outlined in black. Although blue and white wares were made at Dehua from the early 17th century onwards, and Chinese records mention enamelling on blanc de Chine during the 16th century, there appears to be no archaeological evidence of enamelling undertaken at Dehua as yet. Blank vessels were instead decorated at other provincial kilns or in Europe. Kakiemon-style enamelling (a style characterised by colourful designs with red, green, and yellow enamels after being outlined in red and black) from Japan was admired and imitated in Holland during the late 17th century.These colourful enamelled wares were to become the fashionable items of interior décor in the porcelain rooms of wealthy European homes.
