Joanna here, talking about porcelain,
as in what you make dishes of,
(also electrical insulators, scientific crucibles, and toilets, though these predate our historical characters by a good bit and are thus of less immediate interest than they might otherwise be.)
Porcelain is arguably the luxury product of the Georgian and Regency eras. All those fancy dinner parties ...? Porcelain is what they were eating off of.
Now, pottery has been with us since the first cavewoman patted out a crude bowl from river clay and set it to dry in the sun, or buried that bowl in a pit and built a fire on top of it.
As one does.
These pit-fired ceramics are not mere stepping stones in the history of pottery. People all over the world still make and use exactly this technique.
Kiln-fired ceramics (We will get to porcelain. Be patient. I want to talk about beer first.) have been around for 8000 years. That earliest-so-far kiln was found at Yarim Tepe in Iraq.
The earliest chemically confirmed barley beer dates to between 5400 and 5000 years ago. Fragments of a jug containing a by-product of the brewing process were discovered at Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of Iran.
So high quality pots to drink beer out of are considerably older than beer. This tells us much about the human condition.
So. What exactly is porcelain?
Porcelain is made from kaolin clay, which is not found just everywhere, and a varying bunch of add-ins. It's fired at very high temperatures -- 1200° to 1400°C (2200° to 2600°F.)
This sort of clay is capable of detailed modeling and thin form. It becomes a hard, white, glossy and uniquely translucent pottery. See that picture way up top with the sun shining through a plate? That's porcelain doing its thing.
It's surprisingly durable. It takes color well.
It's really lovely.
The word "kaolin" derives from "Gaoling", literally "High Ridge", a village in Jiangxi Province in China.
(Do you need to know kaolin clay is the main ingredient of kaopectate? No? I didn't think so.)
The European word "porcelain" is even more fun. It comes from the Italian word "porcella," the name of a sort of smooth white cowrie shell. Porcella-the-shell, in turn, means "little pig" or "female pig genitalia," the Italians having a robust, earthy turn of humor when it comes to naming their cowrie shells.
The first mention of the word porcelain is in Marco Polo.
Etymologists have all the fun.
The Chinese made splendid ceramics all along. See that pot above and to the left. That's old, old earthenware, influenced by contemporary cast bronze forms. It has quite a presence. Just wonderful, isn't it?
The Chinese invented porcelain (and spaghetti and many other wonderful things including fireworks.) They kinda revolutionized the whole pottery business.
True, they putzed about for centuries, making close-to-porcelain and this-is-almost-as-good-as-porcelain products which had their own charm.
Then in the ninth century CE, they broke the code on true porcelain and nothing would ever be the same.
The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) controlled a wide-flung porcelain trade that expanded across the Islamic kingdoms to Africa via the Silk Road. Finished pieces, (but not the secret of how to make them,) traveled great distances. And both the art work and the technology of making porcelain spread to Korea and, in 1600, to Japan.
In the fullness of time, by which I mean late Fourteenth Century, Europe saw and Europe wanted. They were late getting into the export-porcelain-from-the-Far-East game, but enthusiastic.
Portuguese merchants began direct trade by sea In 1517, followed by the Dutch in 1598.
Japan became an exporter to the West after 1600.
Porcelain became one of the great luxuries of the European rich.
I look at the best of what might have been acquired by traders and brought to Georgian or Regency England for rich patrons. The balanced, sophisticated beauty of these pieces must have had a stunning impact.
Before 1700, the Chinese porcelain sent to Europe was mostly white or blue-and-white ware like this.
That early blue-and-white export ware was the inspiration for Delft Ware. The popular modern blue onion pattern from Meissen derives from this too.
Then, after about 1700, color arrived.
Bang.
And what color! The clear white gloss of porcelain takes to overglaze enamel like cake to icing.
These below are Japanese examples because pretty.
A writer of Georgian and Regency works can use this. The rich male protagonist, (perhaps a Duke,) can very reasonably own or trade in or steal and hold for ransom these beautiful objects and wouldn't they be lovely to describe?
Okay. Europe, having been teased with these exquisite objects, longed to make their own. Cheaper.
The merchants of the Far East sold plates and flagons and vases but not the secrets of how they were made.
Europeans gamely experimented, with limited success.
Then, in 1712, a French Jesuit in China blew the gaff. He witnessed the technical secrets of porcelain making and published to the world. Doubtless an early exponent of the "Information Wants to be Free" philosophy.
Europe embarked upon porcelain.
And below ... I've seen examples of these fruits and vegetables in museums. Some are true trompe l'oeil. Some are just for fun. (I mention these in one of my books.)
I make pottery ... somewhat badly. (She says, defiant.)
Never tried porcelain. It's an exacting technique.
I'm very fond of what I make, even though I see all the defects.
That's my own pottery story.
What about you ... do you have a piece of pottery or porcelain that means something to you? A box you keep on your dresser to hold rings? A vase where the fish swallows the flowers and it is so hokey and it belonged to your grandmother?
Lovely, Jo, especially the bit about how porcelain got its name. *G* I love ceramics, but go more for stoneware than porcelain, being more peasant than aristocrat. Coffee mugs. Tableware. Vases. A collection of little animal figures. I love them all!
Posted by: Mary Jo Putney | Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 08:11 PM
I'm trying to think if I possess much porcelain.
I have a dinner service my mother used. Royal Doulton with flowers on it. I haven't managed to pawn it off on anyone so it sits in a box and maybe some idiot thief will make off with it someday.
But I have two or three pieces of BUNNYKINS and they are dear to my heart.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 08:36 PM
Wait... the Chinese invented spaghetti? Did they invent Pizza as well? Goodness, the things I learn. Your blog is certainly educational.
And yes, the porcelain is pretty :)
Posted by: Evelyn M. Hill | Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 09:39 PM
Evelyn, not only spaghetti, but (more to the point for Wench World) paper around 100 BC, woodblock printing, and even moveable type.
Although porcelain is beautiful, my own collecting interest is crystal and glass paperweights. I'd like to see a column on glasswork here, but don't put a glass paperweight in a Regency—the first ones appeared in the mid-1840s. (No, the Chinese didn't invent them, it was the French.)
Posted by: Mary M. | Wednesday, September 12, 2018 at 11:44 PM
Joanna- What a delightful post! I love tchotchkes, especially boxes. Quite a few of my boxes are porcelain. I love the feel of them in my hands, the "snick" sound that lid makes when it goes back on the box. I also have several porcelain trinket boxes with "surprises" inside. And speaking of glass paperweights, as Mary M. did, above- not so long ago, I saw a program on PBS where the craftsperson was explaining - and showing - the host - the process of making millefiori objects. Beautiful and fascinating.
Posted by: Binnie Syril Braunstein | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 03:39 AM
Fascinating post. I'm a sucker for all kinds of ceramics.
It matters, I think, that things be beautiful. Many years ago, our plates were the ones you got for free from the supermarket with a purchase of a certain amount. They weren't ugly, just kind of blah. I was so happy when we could afford to buy a set of dishes. I will swear that food tastes better when served on an attractive and appropriate dish. Tea in a delicate china cup, spaghetti in a brightly-painted pottery bowl, and milk in a glass that has survived since childhood.
Posted by: Lillian Marek | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 06:03 AM
An absolutely fascinating post, Joanna! You now have me thinking of how to work in a porcelain element to my Regency mysteries!)
Like Mary Jo, I'm more of a stoneware aficionado, though I do have my grandmother's lovely formal floral-painted china, which gets trotted out on special occasions.
Posted by: Andrea Penrose | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 07:17 AM
I think everybody who can make fine white bread eventually makes some kinda noodle as well. So we all invented long skinny noodles at some point or another.
But popular history credits Marco Polo for bringing the idea back to Italy. Who shall argue with popular history?
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:15 AM
I have some lovely glass paperweights. Not good enough to be collectable. Just sun catchers.
I do enjoy them.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:17 AM
I learn so many new things reading this blog. I did already know about the Chinese spaghetti though (smile). I guess my most prized possession was a wash basin and water pitcher I inherited years ago. The wash basin had a crack in it, but it is no less valuable to me. BTW I love the pics you included.
Posted by: Mary T | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:27 AM
I have a couple of those millefiori paperweights. Fascinating.
I, too, have a weakness for boxes, though mine are wooden. Something about the whole concept of boxes.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:29 AM
There's some good china patterns that strike me as "blah". I see them sometimes on BBC. When they're serving tea at the Vicarage there just isn't any Splash to the pattern.
My guess is BBC pulls in the same props over and over again and they don't want something that would be remembered.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:50 AM
I seem to have done porcelain and glassware much more than I'd realized.
I even put my beloved Betty Brown teapot in a scene, though it's anachronistic, since I doubt they go bck before Victorian.
I just say something like "ordinary brown teapot" because there were sure to be ordinary brown teapots and nobody knows it's my own teapot.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:56 AM
That's why we don't have more old china hanging about. It does get battered up.
That's art of the beauty of it, I guess. We know it's fragile.
When I wash my pottery teapot you should see me holding the spout and the handle protectively so I don't chip them against the sides of the sink.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 08:59 AM
My porcelain story:
Mr Wonderful purchased a fine china set - service for 12 - platinum trim - the whole bit. But, it never truly appealed to me - pretty and delicate but not for me. It was too something. Not sure what. After he was gone, I could get rid of the china. HOORAY!
I tried to give it away - no one wants it. My son and his wife took it to Phoenix because they thought they knew someone who would take it. Nope - changed their mind. I have now found that life has changed and there are many things which were once treasures which are not anymore. So, Tim and Becca have big ugly boxes of china no one wants.
I also have plates displayed on my kitchen wall. They are patterns which have appealed to me and a couple which were patterns of my mother and her mother.
OK - I am supposed to be getting rid of things. And I have been.
But, on a neighborhood site, I saw a china set - service for 8. Delicate flowers, Tiffany blue, and so pretty. So of course I bought it.
I live alone with a Pekinese. He seldom eats off delicate plates. I no longer give dinner parties. But, every time I look at a piece of this china, I smile. I am a weak person who is a sucker for pretty china.
Thank you so much for this informative and entertaining post. And the pictures are lovely.
Posted by: Annette N | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 10:19 AM
I like to look at porcelain, but I want sturdier plates to deal with. We use Corning's Corelle. Looks good to me, but requires much less care.
As to patterns: Spode has a pattern I thing would make a nice breakfast set, but nothing I would want on the dinner table.
Obviously, I prefer my porcelain in museums.
Posted by: Sue McCormick | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 12:22 PM
Fascinating. I especially love the etymology...
But I confess, if given a chose between the porcelain, which my mother would undoubtedly have chosen, and stoneware, I'll choose stoneware.
I used to throw pots on a wheel, myself, until I blew out my wrists. I have made pinch pots, slab and coil vessels and had a good time with pit firing. And when the world (or maybe just my mind) was still young, I taught kids how to do that out in the wilds. Digging and refining the clay, then building a vessel and firing it yourself is an amazing experience.
Posted by: Camille Biexei | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 01:02 PM
No porcelain, no china. But I do have some fun pottery pieces that I've picked up here and there.
As for plates, I'm with Sue - Corning's Corelle since I'm ahem, hell on wheels with breakables. Just the other day I opened the freezer door on the refrigerator and something fell off the top, hit inside the freezer before falling on the floor. Oopss...I put a big gash in the freezer.
The floor in the kitchen has quite a few dents from me dropping things. Corelle survives dropping on the floor, in the sink and on the counter (grin)
When I was in Sacramento a few years ago, I went to the RR Museum and oh they had some of the prettiest china that they used in the RR dining cars. Absolutely gorgeous patterns.
Posted by: Vicki L. | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 01:25 PM
I cherish my great grandmother's wedding china - translucent and gold trimmed - a million pieces....and I adore my hand thrown Joanne Bourne pottery coffee mug !
Posted by: betsy yopp | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 03:43 PM
Fascinating! I don't have any porcelain myself, but it is beautiful to look at. I also remember attempting to make clay coiled pots in art in grade school. Probably not very well, and no idea what happened to them! But I first learned about kaolin clay in the Nancy Drew book "The Clue of the Leaning Chimney".
Posted by: Jane | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 04:50 PM
What an enjoyable post, Joanna. I have a few Delft pieces (courtesy of Dutch family) that are likely porcelain. Our dishes are a Dansk design, but I don't think they are porcelain. They are definitely too thick for light to shine through.
Posted by: Kareni | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 06:05 PM
The spaghetti thing isn't actually correct. Many cultures invented a similar food around about the same time (same with bread). Spaghetti has been in Italy for many, many, many centuries.
China didn't teach Italians how to cook.
Posted by: Sonya Heaney | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 09:04 PM
I'm going to agree with that.
More on the pasta question here:
https://recipes.howstuffworks.com/marco-polo-pasta.htm
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 10:13 PM
One big change in my approach to china ...
Lots of the loveliest old porcelain has gold trim.
The microwave does not like metal.
In a choice between the two, the microwave wins.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 10:18 PM
I use earthenware for a lot of things.
Cups, for instance.
My cups are pretty much divided between lovely thin old porcelain and clunky handmade cups that are a good deal more ... hmmm .... robust.
I enjoy both. I use what suits my mood.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Thursday, September 13, 2018 at 10:21 PM
My husband is Hungarian, so I have a weakness for Herend (the Hungarian national porcelain). Whenever I go antiquing, I'm always looking for additions to my collection. To buy a dinner set of Herend, I'd need to mortgage my house! I can afford little animals and children. My 2 favorites are a boy (that looks like childhood pictures of my red-headed husband) and girl who looks like a grandchild.
Peg from DC
Posted by: Peg Serenyi | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:27 AM
I'm so sorry about the wrists. Pot throwing is physically strenuous and I always end a session just worn out.
With me, it's the shoulders that are going to give way eventually. And -- yes -- the hands and wrists. I';; be sorry to give it up when the times comes.
I could never do pinch pots. I just lack the patience and fine motor control.
I've never taught from-scratch pot making, but my older sister taught me, yeah these many years ago.
Good on you that you passed the skill along.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:30 AM
Corelle is so useful and pretty. The world is a better place for it.
I'm lucky in that I haven't been involved in the whole china breaking thing so much. I know the time is coming. Even now I am careful to keep a firm hold on what I'm carrying.
At some point I'll have to choose between just cleaning up after many dropped and broken plates ... or going the corelle route.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:34 AM
Oh lord. That latter is one you're perfectly free to drop on the tile floor.
I like to think of my work as bold and rustic.
My pottery sensei says stuff like, "That's interesting."
Currently, I'm incising beaker-people-like designs (2900-1800 BCE) on the ware.
I'm going to be giving away a mug when I finally finish revisions of Gideon and the Den of Thieves story and send out my notify mailing again.
Poor things, but mine own.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:39 AM
Cool and cool.
Kaolin clay is not uncommon ... but it's also not just yer ordinary clay that you gaze at in despair when you're trying to establish a garden. There's more of it formed in areas that were warm and tropical in earlier geological ages.
In the ground, kaolin is white. It must have just beckoned to early potters.
In the US, it's mostly commercial in Georgia, between Augusta and Macon, in a region of thirteen counties where it's called "white gold."
I have somehow missed reading that particular Nancy Drew book ...
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:54 AM
The Delft designs are so vigorous and enthusiastic. They've had a huge influence.
Way back in my student days I had a set of earthenware china -- I think it might have been Dansk -- with a modern interpretation of old Delft patterns.
I still remember it kindly. Partly for the design. Partly for the nostalgia of student days. Funny how memory of objects takes us back to the past.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 09:57 AM
I hadn't heard of Herend porcelain, but I looked it up and they are lovely.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herend_Porcelain_Manufactory
The manufactury is old, too. 1826. That puts it into Historical Romance country, so someone with a Hungarian hero -- maybe somebody involved in the 1848 revoltuion in Hungary -- could ref this china.
Posted by: Joanne Bourne | Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 10:01 AM
Joanna, it is "The Clue of the Leaning Chimney."
Posted by: Jane | Tuesday, September 18, 2018 at 04:27 PM