By Valerie Sartor

Porcelain is a type of ceramic ware that western people call “china” or “chinaware” because potters first created it for the emperor in south central China where a special type of clay is found. Beautiful but strong, Chinese porcelain products can be constructed with thin, elegant walls able to reflect light. Yet because it is extremely durable porcelain products today are used to make electrical insulators and various types of laboratory equipment. Moreover, if you tap a porcelain object it gives off a very clear, bell-like tone.For many centuries China held the secret to making the world's finest porcelain -- white, translucent ceramic ware of such high quality that it sounded musical tone when struck. The envy of potters and collectors in Europe and the Middle East, Chinese blue-and-white porcelain owed its excellence to the fine clay available to the Chinese as well as to their high-temperature kilns and the cobalt pigment they used to produce the pieces' brilliant hues.What makes Chinese porcelain so special?

First of all, it is very, very old. Historically ceramic art in China is the longest, continuously evolving art form among all humans; it dates back to 7,000 B.C. Porcelain can be counted as one of China's most significant contributions to world culture and art. And like silk and gunpowder, China kept the porcelain making technique secret for over a thousand years. While other cultures were still making earthenware and simple clay pots the Chinese potters of the Sung Dynasty, in the 12th century A.D., had perfected their porcelain techniques.

Moreover, after the Mongolians conquered China along with the Eurasian continent in the 13th century, Chinese porcelain became well known and greatly coveted by foreigners. The Mongolians founded the Yuan dynasty and along with their centralized organization they also established efficient trade routes that spread products such as porcelain and silk across continents. Significantly, Mongolian traders brought the Chinese potters the now celebrated cobalt material [blue pigment] from Iraq and Iran. Blue-and-white porcelain still remains a Chinese trademark although the Dutch somewhat feebly copied the patterns centuries later. The astute Mongolians then took the colorful porcelain to the Near East, selling it for magnificent prices.Everyone outside of China wanted to copy the porcelain technique after they saw the beautiful wares; no one was successful for a long time.

The Chinese had two secret advantages: they knew how to fire pottery at extremely high temperatures and they had a special kind of kaolin clay with very low iron content endemic to their territory. After further refinement this clay became very pure and white colored, producing ceramics that were unique in the world. Chinese porcelain is matchless because it is both delicate and lovely. And, from the beginning, Chinese porcelain was stronger and more durable than anything the Western world could mimic. Two factors contributed to this: first, the chemical composition of kaolin clay found in Jingdezhen, south-central China, had/has what is known as a tense physical structure. Not only beautiful in color, this structure allows clay and feldspar, the other ingredient necessary for porcelain, to combine and fuse together with a translucent alkaline glaze utilizing a high temperature firing process. The end product was a very hard, crystallized piece of pottery.

Historically, scholars think that the first true porcelain was made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907) in China. Later, during the Song Dynasty (960-1279) royal factories were set up to make porcelain house wares and decorative pieces for the imperial family. Porcelain was coveted because at first it was meant only for members of the royal entourage. Additionally, it was made in limited supplies and subsequently dispensed as gifts that signified great honor. As initially only the royal family was allowed to use these elegant dishes and decorations and in fact the pottery was called “Imperial porcelain”. Each piece had a special stamp called a reign mark. Later, over time, wealthy Chinese were able to purchase porcelain. Some pieces were still given out as gifts in exchange for tribute by the court to foreigners and highly respected Chinese. In the 16th and 17th centuries factories started making porcelain for export: the quality could be mixed, especially it were designed for daily usage rather than display purposes. The neighboring Japanese preferred tea sets with asymmetrical designs, baffling Chinese artists. Strange European tastes were also conformed to as well, and overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia had a great appetite for the classically beautiful pottery. This exported porcelain often had stamps and marks, mimicking the reign marks, in order to increase the value of the exported pieces. Contemporary collectors have noted that significantly, the quality and intensity of the blue pigment used in porcelain designs has changed over time. During the Yuan Dynasty (1279-1368 A.D) the era when Mongolians ruled China, the empire had extensive ties with the Middle East. Hardy Mongolian traders brought back from the Middle East a type of cobalt mixed with arsenic impurities; when fired the mixture intensified the deep blue color. In fact the Chinese still call cobalt blue “Mohammedan” (Huihuiqing) blue.

Interestingly, in the 17th century the Chinese independently discovered cobalt deposits mixed with manganese – when they applied this they found that the blue hues became lighter. After experimentation potters mixed both blues in their patterns, creating vivid, beautiful designs that fetched great prices both in the past and present. Before porcelain was developed potters made two common types of ceramics: earthenware and stoneware. Both are made from one ingredient: clay – which is baked (fired) – earthenware is fired at low temperatures and stoneware is fired at high temperatures. Often, for aesthetic reasons, a piece of pottery is covered with a glaze, a glassy like substance that colors and adds shine and also makes the object waterproof. Stoneware, like its name implies, is very hard and naturally waterproof without glazing.

In contrast porcelain is made with two ingredients: kaolin clay and petuntse, a type of feldspar found only in China. Ancient Chinese learned to grind this substance into powder and mix it with the clay, greatly enhancing the strength and translucence of the finished ceramic product. The proportions between the two may vary according to artists and factories. When the Chinese fired their ceramics at high temperatures: at 1250 centigrade (2280 Fahrenheit) the petuntse literally melts and forms a kind of natural waterproof glass. At the same time the kaolin clay retains its shape, fusing with the petuntse. The result is true porcelain, technically called “hard paste” porcelain: something that is translucent and delicate but incredibly strong. If you break a piece of porcelain it is impossible to distinguish between the glaze and the body of the clay because everything fuses together perfectly. Making a piece of Porcelain To make porcelain a potter’s wheel or a mold is preferred; hand building is almost never done. After shaping the piece the craftsman can decorate it by applying surface modifications, painting it or using a transfer print. Surface modifications include carving the unfired ceramic piece, poking holes in it or even embossing – applying a raised design. Often potters like to apply a “slip” – a mixture of water and clay – to the piece and paint it on with a brush. Sometimes three dimensional relief designs are made separately and then pasted onto the piece.

A diversity of methods exists for painting porcelain. Colored glazes – especially the famous gray-green celadon glaze – may be painted on the surface of the object. The artist may decide to pain designs directly on the pot before it is glazed over: this is called “underglazing” The Chinese traditionally have preferred to use their cobalt blue in this manner but contemporary potters all over the world now use a variety of patterns and colors.When paint is applied on top of a glaze it is called “enameling”. Ancient Chinese used many bright enamel colors that were made from metallic oxides: copper, iron and manganese. The enameling process requires the piece to be fired Clearly, European and Chinese aesthetic patterns are not the same. Traditionally the Chinese liked to outline designs and colors with a darker color. Europeans in the past liked to blend and merge their colors. Even more significant was the design itself: the Chinese have many symbols and placed them for specific reasons on goods, clothing, homes and around their environment; ceramics was no exception.

Europeans, on the other hand, used decorations mostly to enhance the artistic value. In the mid seventeen hundreds transfer printing was created. A design could be etched on a copper plate, inked with color, and transferred to tissue paper. Then, while the ink was still wet the design would be pressed upon the clay object(s), thus transferring the design consistently and quickly. Both Europe and China adopted this technique, improving upon it over time.  European attempts at porcelainEuropeans invented two other kinds of china over time, in the 16th and 17th centuries, in their efforts to create something as magnificent as Chinese porcelain and to produce everyday wares for the ever-expanding ceramics market. “Soft-paste” porcelain and “bone china” both contain different ingredients than “hard paste” Chinese porcelain. Soft paste porcelain directly imitated Chinese porcelain. Europeans wanted something strong, white and translucent and finally created it by using glass-like substances but it was fired at lower temperatures. It is not as durable as true porcelain because the fusion process is not complete: if you break a piece of soft paste porcelain the glaze is apparent, with a grainy clay body inside. It’s also not as white, with more of a creamy hue, and the glazed colors tend to merge.

The first good European soft-paste porcelain was produced in Florence, Italy, about 1575. Later, in the 1700’s France took the lead in producing soft-paste porcelain, with the first factories in Rouen, St. Cloud, Lille, and Chantilly. But the most celebrated French soft paste porcelain is perhaps Sevres (1756) porcelain, first produced in Vincennes (1738). Limoges followed (1771) and became one of the largest European porcelain production centers. In 1842 the American David Haviland opened a factory there. His floral patterns, along with the other above names, are still collector’s items today. The Germans were not to be outdone by the French. A German chemist called Bottger discovered the secrets of making hard paste porcelain in 1709. A factory was set up in Meissen; this celebrated porcelain also is called Dresden because that was where Bottger worked. This German porcelain led the European market for nearly a century: the artists decorating the wares in his factories were outstanding. The designs were unusual, mixing Japanese, Chinese and exquisite depictions of people and animals. Unfortunately politics caused the German wares to fall into decline. After 1750 the British somehow learned to grind up animal bones and mix it with kaolin and petuntse, thus creating their own porcelain that we now know as “bone china”. Bone ash makes these ceramics fabulously translucent. The best-known bone china comes from Worcester; it produced both soft paste china and bone china in a wide variety of designs, patterns and colors. The chemist Josiah Spode is credited with perfecting the techniques for creating bone china in the late 1700’s. Porcelain's popularity For hundreds of years the very best porcelain came from China. Collectors today greatly prize Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) vases and bowls as priceless artistic treasures. It was at this time that the famous blue and white under-glazed porcelain was perfected and the enameling technique also became quite common. During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) a great amount of porcelain was exported to Europe; Korea and Japan had already discovered the secret in the 1100’s but they too prized Chinese wares.

Interestingly, porcelain became extremely popular in Europe in the 16th century because the habit of drinking tea, coffee and chocolate had recently appeared on the continent. Previously, from the Middle Ages until porcelain arrived on the continent, Europeans had simply drunk ale, mead or beer out of crudely carved wooden or pewter cups and eaten their meals using either wooden trenchers (plates) or trenchers made of bread. The Portuguese are credited with first bringing Chinese porcelain directly to Europe during the sixteenth century. They found China by following the great Chinese Admiral Zheng He’s routes, using his maps to enter Asia via the sea route around the Cape of Good Hope in 1498. The first Portuguese ship arrived in Canton, China in 1513. Later the Dutch vociferously entered the trade in the seventeenth century. They captured a Portuguese vessel called the Catherina - it carried over 100,000 pieces of porcelain. Everything went on public auction in Holland: buyers came from all over Europe, including courtiers representing the courts of France and England. Some historians believe this auction triggered the porcelain craze. In any case, between 1604 and 1657 over three million pieces of Chinese porcelain arrived in Europe.

Thus, drinking habits and product availability gave rise to an insatiable demand for porcelain outside of China. And even though the Europeans eventually perfected their own porcelain craftsmanship the demand for Chinese porcelain remained high because it was exotic, beautiful and rare. Today Chinese porcelain is still greatly revered and collected, with certain pieces from dynastic periods fetching millions of dollars. Porcelain is only one of the many gifts China has bequeathed to the Western world. Porcelain, like silk and gunpowder, remains in use today around the world.

 

Last update: 13-03-2009 20:16