Article by Mitch Johnson
Among different types of ceramic, porcelain is one of the most beautiful and expensive Chinese-made ceramic. Though it has been firstly made by Chinese, later it spread all over Europe and many people started making it. In this article you will learn more about porcelain.
Although many of the imitations resembled porcelain at first glance, all of them were made of soft-paste clays. It remained for a German named Johannes Boettger to turn out the first true European porcelain in the year 1709.
By experiments with the fusing of clays, Boettger discovered the secret of making a high-fired mixture of fusible and non-fusible silicates of alumina, called by the Chinese petuntse and kaolin, and in English china-stone and china-clay.
Boettger was first to realize that Chinese porcelain could be made with potter’s material alone. Because of its translucence, other experimenters were certain the Chinese had mixed glass with clay. In effect, as Boettger proved, they did. The Orientals, however, instead of fusing finished glass with clay, fused the raw ingredients.
From Boettger’s factory at Meissen sprang others making hard-paste porcelain comparable with the Chinese and Japanese. The spread of European porcelain-making, though, was relatively slow, since the manufacturers attempted to monopolize the secrets of their trade. Competing potters were not above hiring spies in each other’s potteries to snoop for secrets. We are told, for example, that the brothers Elers in England employed none but deaf mutes at the Staffordshire plant, to prevent their techniques from leaking out to competitors.
Both by spying and by independent discovery, the secret of making genuine porcelain was known in virtually every European country by the end of the 19th century. It was the dawn of a new golden age in European ceramics. Names like Wedgwood, Spode, Delft, Minton, Irish Beleek and Meissen became synonymous with fine china. These famed manufactories are a fascinating study in themselves.
Modern science has removed the aura of secrecy which once surrounded ceramics. Today the tyro ceramists, in their own kitchen, can produce the most beautiful objects with little difficulty. More and more people are indulging their desire for self-expression through this medium. They are finding how easy it is to make fine pottery inexpensively and enjoyably. Save for the hobbyist’s own imagination, there is virtually no limit to what can be done by you.
Now a days, though it is difficult to get original Chinese made porcelain, but many other fine and unique Chinese made ceramic can be found.
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