ZrSiO4 modified mullite-based porous ceramics were fabricated at 1400 o C by using a foam-gelcasting method from industrial grade powder materials. Except for mullite and ZrSiO4 no other phases were identified in the fired samples added with ZrSiO4, implying that at the firing temperature, ZrSiO4 neither decomposed, nor reacted with mullite. In the microstructures of these samples, mullite/ZrSiO4 grains were evenly distributed, and the overall pore sizes were reduced. The addition of ZrSiO4 showed little effect on porosity and bulk density of fired samples, which were respectively around 77% and 0.7g•cm-3. However, it led to the enhanced mechanical strength, and more importantly, the reduced thermal conductivity, especially at high temperatures. When 8 wt% ZrSiO4 was added, flexural and compressive strengths increased respectively to 3.63 and 7.35 MPa, whereas thermal conductivity at 200 and 1000 o C was reduced to 0.160 and 0.277 W•m-1 •K-1 , respectively, which was mainly attributed to the shading effect, decreased size of "large" spherical pores, and more centralized and homogenized pore size distribution.