Porcelain is a fine and translucent ceramic which, if produced from kaolin by firing at more than 1200°C, takes the more precise name of hard porcelain.

It is mainly used in tableware.

 

It was in China, in the 6th century AD, that porcelain finds its origin thanks to the large deposits of kaolin, a white clay essential for the manufacture of real porcelain.

The first porcelains were made here in the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

 

From the beginning of the Christian era until the 17th century, exotic Chinese objects, sought after, rare and expensive, were transported to Europe by land or by sea opened by Marco Polo.

 

As the fascination for porcelain grew throughout Europe, a Jesuit, Father François-Xavier d'Entrecolles, provided a detailed account of porcelain manufacturing in China.

This story describes many stages of manufacture but does not fully reveal the secret of porcelain.

The techniques of its manufacture reached their perfection in China in the 12th century.

Throughout Europe there is a growing desire to produce porcelain that can rival that of China.

While working for the Meissen factory in Germany Ehrenfried Walther Von Tschirnhaus and Johann Friedrich Böttger pierced the secret in 1708.  

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It was not until the 18th century (1768),  following the discovery of kaolin deposits in France that hard porcelain could finally be reproduced._cc781905-5cde-3194- bb3b-136bad5cf58d_

Known worldwide since the 18th century, with Chinese and German porcelain, several French factories are among the most renowned.

(Sèvres, Limoges, Chantilly...)

 

Sources: Knowledge by reading and Wikipedia.

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