About Porcelain

This is a very condensed version of the history of porcelain that I hope you find interesting. The Chinese have known for centuries how to produce porcelain, glazed and painted high temperature fired clay pottery unlike any other that was produced in the rest of the world.

It was only produced in the Province of Fukien, only there did they find the materials that were needed: china clay (kaolin) and china stone (peluntse) combined at a high temperature. The Chinese guarded this formula fiercely. They were the only producer and exporter of porcelain ware.

It is believed that Marco Polo was the first person to bring porcelain to Europe from the palace of Kublai Kahn. He named it procelaine after the sea shell, Mother of Pearl which was called porcelaine at that time. It did not take long for porcelain to become very high priced at the European Courts. Many countries tried to duplicate the clay recipe without success so they stopped experimenting due to political unrest and wars.

August the Strong from Saxony was an avid collector of Chinese porcelain. Under his patronage, Joachim Friedrick Boettger, a chemist, started to experiment with formulas to produce porcelain. After 5 years of trials and errors in 1708 he finally succeeded in duplicating the hard paste porcelain which was the first time that it had been duplicated outside of China. All the people including Boettger who were involved in this experiment had sworn an oath of silence never to reveal the formula for the clay. Since it was very expensive to purchase porcelain, it was also called white gold and made August the Strong a very rich ruler.

A factory was built in Meissen to produce porcelain. Its creations steadily improved to finer shapes and then figurines. Many sculptors and porcelain painters have become famous through their work with porcelain. Porcelain painting is considered an art form. Since Meissen has been established, it has never stopped producing porcelain. Under the DDR it was a big money maker, bringing badly needed western currency to the communist state. Having visited Meissen myself, the Museum is something to see, the price for Meissen porcelain is still very high.

The formula for porcelain became, maybe the first great case of business espionage. First it got out to Vienna. Bottgers' friend was the first to sell himself and the formula to Vienna. Boettger liked to tip the bottle and that loosened his tongue. Slowly but surely many of the workers sold the formula to other countries. Meissen had about 40 years of monopoly on the porcelain production in Germany. When it lost some of its power, many Companies started in that region and made a name for themselves. Since Boettger came up with the formula, he alone has been given credit, but of course, many people were involved in duplicating the formula for hard paste porcelain. Porcelain Companies around the world have become famous for their fine porcelain production.

I hope this little history lesson was interesting and informative for you.

Thank you!