Blanc de Chine — French for “white of China” — is the name European traders gave to the luminous white porcelain made in the mountain town of Dehua, Fujian province. For over five centuries, the world has admired this porcelain for one simple quality: its extraordinary whiteness.
Dehua’s kilns began producing white porcelain in the Song dynasty (960–1279), but it was during the Ming dynasty that the town found its signature. Local potters mastered a body of fine white clay that could be thrown thin and fired bright — a porcelain so pure that, in the right light, it seems to glow from within. By the 17th century, Dutch and Portuguese traders were carrying Dehua ware across the oceans, and collectors in Europe gave it the name that stuck: Blanc de Chine.
The most celebrated figure of this tradition is He Chaozong, a 16th-century Dehua master whose Buddhist figures — especially his seated Guanyin, the goddess of compassion — are considered among the greatest ceramic sculptures ever made. His works were so prized in Europe that they were reproduced in delftware and porcelain factories across the continent, and original pieces now rest in museums from London to San Francisco.
What makes Blanc de Chine different from other white porcelains? Its warmth. The Dehua body carries a faint, creamy tone — often described as suet white — that feels softer and more human than the clinical white of industrial porcelain. It is a white that sits quietly in a room, complementing wood, linen, and light rather than competing with them.
At Purekiln, every piece is hand-thrown in Dehua by artisans who inherit this tradition, then fired at 1300°C — hot enough to vitrify the body into a dense, durable porcelain. When you hold a Purekiln vase, you are holding five centuries of Chinese craft.
