These figurative pieces dressed in Western attire, with attached whistles (left and right), include conventional Chinese elements. The figure on the right is seated on a lion while the figure on the left, stands on a 'taotie' (imaginary beast) base. Whether these motifs were an attempt to retain attributes familiar to a Chinese audience or were intended as exotic details for a Western raise the question of who such items were intended for.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.
