Misplaced Pages

#276723

83-539: The Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company is the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain manufacturer, based in Derby , England (disputed by Royal Worcester , who claim 1751 as their year of establishment). The company, particularly known for its high-quality bone china , having produced tableware and ornamental items since approximately 1750. It was known as 'Derby Porcelain' until 1773, when it became 'Crown Derby',

166-508: A kiln to permanently set their shapes, vitrify the body and the glaze. Porcelain is fired at a higher temperature than earthenware so that the body can vitrify and become non-porous. Many types of porcelain in the past have been fired twice or even three times, to allow decoration using less robust pigments in overglaze enamel . Porcelain was invented in China over a centuries-long development period beginning with "proto-porcelain" wares dating from

249-537: A patent on a porcelain containing bone ash. This was the first bone china , subsequently perfected by Josiah Spode . William Cookworthy discovered deposits of kaolin in Cornwall , and his factory at Plymouth , established in 1768, used kaolin and china stone to make hard-paste porcelain with a body composition similar to that of the Chinese porcelains of the early 18th century. But the great success of English ceramics in

332-510: A porcelain painter formerly at Chelsea porcelain factory and Longton Hall , and the banker John Heath. This was the foundation of the Derby company, although production at the works at Cockpit Hill , just outside the town, had begun before then, as evidenced by a creamware jug dated 1750, also in the possession of the Victoria and Albert Museum. Planché disappeared from the scene almost at once, and

415-475: A flower painter who replaced Billingsley, Richard Dodson (who specialised in birds), George Robertson (land- and seascapes) and Cuthbert Lawton (hunting scenes). The best-known artist of this time was William Pegg , a Quaker , famed for his striking and idiosyncratic flower painting. He started in 1797 but his religious beliefs led him to the conclusion that painting was sinful and he left in 1800. He returned in 1813, but left again in 1820. Despite much good work,

498-632: A former director of Royal Doulton and a member of the Pearson family, led a buy-out, making Royal Crown Derby once again an independent and privately owned concern, which in 2006 employed about 300 people at the Osmaston Road works. In 2013, Hugh Gibson retired and sold the company to Steelite International of Stoke-on-Trent. The Derby factory and visitor centre remain open. According to the Royal Crown Derby website, Steelite "remains firmly committed to

581-601: A high resistance to corrosive chemicals and thermal shock . Porcelain has been described as being "completely vitrified, hard, impermeable (even before glazing), white or artificially coloured, translucent (except when of considerable thickness), and resonant". However, the term "porcelain" lacks a universal definition and has "been applied in an unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds that have only certain surface-qualities in common". Traditionally, East Asia only classifies pottery into low-fired wares (earthenware) and high-fired wares (often translated as porcelain),

664-403: A major European factories producing tableware, and later porcelain figurines. Eventually other factories opened: Gardner porcelain, Dulyovo (1832), Kuznetsovsky porcelain, Popovsky porcelain, and Gzhel . During the twentieth century, under Soviet governments, ceramics continued to be a popular artform, supported by the state, with an increasingly propagandist role. One artist, who worked at

747-482: A museum of porcelain items, and offers tours of the factory, a gift shop and a restaurant. Porcelain The manufacturing process used for porcelain is similar to that used for earthenware and stoneware , the two other main types of pottery, although it can be more challenging to produce. It has usually been regarded as the most prestigious type of pottery due to its delicacy, strength, and high degree of whiteness. It

830-552: A source of imperial pride. The Yongle emperor erected a white porcelain brick-faced pagoda at Nanjing , and an exceptionally smoothly glazed type of white porcelain is peculiar to his reign. Jingdezhen porcelain's fame came to a peak during the Qing dynasty. Although the Japanese elite were keen importers of Chinese porcelain from early on, they were not able to make their own until the arrival of Korean potters that were taken captive during

913-439: A wider group of Imari wares. Ko-Kutani was produced around 1650 for both export and domestic market. Kutani ware is characterized by vivid green, blue, purple, yellow and red colors in bold designs of landscapes and nature. Blue and white porcelain pieces continued to be produced and they are called Ai-Kutani. Ko-Kutani Imari for the export market usually adopted Chinese design structure such as kraak style, whereas Ai-Kutani for

SECTION 10

#1733085004277

996-484: A wider range of colours. Like many earlier wares, modern porcelains are often biscuit -fired at around 1,000 °C (1,830 °F), coated with glaze and then sent for a second glaze -firing at a temperature of about 1,300 °C (2,370 °F) or greater. Another early method is "once-fired", where the glaze is applied to the unfired body and the two fired together in a single operation. In this process, "green" (unfired) ceramic wares are heated to high temperatures in

1079-512: Is a very common shape in Korea. Korean celadon comes in a variety of colors, from turquoise to putty . Additionally, in the late 13th century, the Inlay technique of expressing pigmented patterns by filling the hollow parts of pottery with white and red clay was frequently used. The main difference from those in China is that many specimens have inlay decoration under the glaze. Most Korean ceramics from

1162-416: Is determined by measuring the increase in content of water required to change a clay from a solid state bordering on the plastic, to a plastic state bordering on the liquid, though the term is also used less formally to describe the ease with which a clay may be worked. Clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity than many other pottery clays. They wet very quickly, meaning that small changes in

1245-470: Is frequently both glazed and decorated. Though definitions vary, porcelain can be divided into three main categories: hard-paste , soft-paste , and bone china . The categories differ in the composition of the body and the firing conditions. Porcelain slowly evolved in China and was finally achieved (depending on the definition used) at some point about 2,000 to 1,200 years ago. It slowly spread to other East Asian countries, then to Europe, and eventually to

1328-537: Is now made worldwide, including in China. The English had read the letters of Jesuit missionary François Xavier d'Entrecolles , which described Chinese porcelain manufacturing secrets in detail. One writer has speculated that a misunderstanding of the text could possibly have been responsible for the first attempts to use bone-ash as an ingredient in English porcelain, although this is not supported by modern researchers and historians. Traditionally, English bone china

1411-818: The Baranovsky Porcelain Factory and at the Experimental Ceramic and Artistic Plant in Kyiv, was Oksana Zhnikrup , whose porcelain figures of the ballet and the circus were widely known. The pastes produced by combining clay and powdered glass ( frit ) were called Frittenporzellan in Germany and frita in Spain. In France they were known as pâte tendre and in England as "soft-paste". They appear to have been given this name because they do not easily retain their shape in

1494-527: The Dutch East India Company and the Chinese had trading outposts. In the West the multi-coloured or "enamelled" wares became known as "Imari ware", and a different group kakiemon , while blue and white wares were called "Arita ware"; in fact the types were often produced at the same kilns. Today, the use of "Imari" as a descriptor has declined, and they are often called Arita wares (or Hizen wares, after

1577-454: The Dutch East India Company , and in Europe the designation "Imari porcelain" connotes Arita wares of mostly Kinrande Imari. Export of Imari to Europe stopped in mid-18th century when China resumed export to Europe, since Imari was not able to compete against Chinese products due to high labor costs. By that time, however, both Imari and Kakiemon styles were already so popular among Europeans that

1660-521: The Islamic world , where they were highly prized. Eventually, porcelain and the expertise required to create it began to spread into other areas of East Asia. During the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE), artistry and production had reached new heights. The manufacture of porcelain became highly organised, and the dragon kilns excavated from this period could fire as many as 25,000 pieces at a time, and over 100,000 by

1743-516: The Japanese invasions of Korea (1592–1598) . They brought an improved type of kiln, and one of them spotted a source of porcelain clay near Arita , and before long several kilns had started in the region. At first their wares were similar to the cheaper and cruder Chinese porcelains with underglaze blue decoration that were already widely sold in Japan; this style was to continue for cheaper everyday wares until

SECTION 20

#1733085004277

1826-632: The Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) are of excellent decorative quality. It usually has a melon shape and is asymmetrical. Imported Chinese porcelains were held in such great esteem in Europe that in English china became a commonly used synonym for the Italian-derived porcelain . The first mention of porcelain in Europe is in Il Milione by Marco Polo in the 13th century. Apart from copying Chinese porcelain in faience ( tin glazed earthenware ),

1909-788: The Porcelain Tower of Nanjing . More recent examples include the Dakin Building in Brisbane, California and the Gulf Building in Houston, Texas, which when constructed in 1929 had a 21-metre-long (69 ft) porcelain logo on its exterior. Imari porcelain Imari ware ( Japanese : 伊万里焼 , Hepburn : Imari-yaki ) is a Western term for a brightly-coloured style of Arita ware ( 有田焼 , Arita-yaki ) Japanese export porcelain made in

1992-520: The Shang dynasty (1600–1046 BCE). By the time of the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 CE) these early glazed ceramic wares had developed into porcelain, which Chinese defined as high-fired ware. By the late Sui dynasty (581–618 CE) and early Tang dynasty (618–907 CE), the now-standard requirements of whiteness and translucency had been achieved, in types such as Ding ware . The wares were already exported to

2075-401: The 'Royal' being added in 1890. Derby Porcelain covers the earliest history of this and other porcelain producers in 18th-century Derby. In 1745 André Planché , a Huguenot immigrant from Saxony , settled in Derby, where between 1747 and 1755 he made soft-paste porcelain vases and figurines . At the beginning of 1756 he formed a business partnership with William Duesbury (1725–1786),

2158-615: The 18th century was based on soft-paste porcelain, and refined earthenwares such as creamware , which could compete with porcelain, and had devastated the faience industries of France and other continental countries by the end of the century. Most English porcelain from the late 18th century to the present is bone china. In the twenty-five years after Briand's demonstration, a number of factories were founded in England to make soft-paste tableware and figures: Porcelain has been used for electrical insulators since at least 1878, with another source reporting earlier use of porcelain insulators on

2241-524: The 20th century. Exports to Europe began around 1660, through the Chinese and the Dutch East India Company , the only Europeans allowed a trading presence. Chinese exports had been seriously disrupted by civil wars as the Ming dynasty fell apart, and the Japanese exports increased rapidly to fill the gap. At first the wares used European shapes and mostly Chinese decoration, as the Chinese had done, but gradually original Japanese styles developed. Nabeshima ware

2324-487: The Chinese export porcelain copied both, a type known as Chinese Imari. At the same time, European kilns, such as Meissen and English potteries such as Johnson Bros. and (Royal) Crown Derby, also imitated the Imari and Kakiemon styles. Export of Imari surged again in late 19th century (Meiji era) when Japonism flourished in Europe. Thus in the western world today, two kinds of true Japanese Imari can be found: that exported in

2407-517: The Cockpit Works were sold and the factory closed in 1848. A group of former employees set up a factory in King Street in Derby, and continued to use the moulds, patterns and trademarks of the former business, although not the name, so keeping alive the Derby traditions of fine craftsmanship. No mechanical processes were used, and no two pieces produced were exactly the same. Among the items preserved

2490-473: The Derby paste included bone ash . He operated the Chelsea factory on its original site until 1784 (the products of this period are known as 'Chelsea-Derby'), when he demolished the buildings and transferred the assets, including the stock, patterns and moulds, and many of the workmen, to Derby. Again, in 1776, he acquired the remainder of the formerly prestigious Bow porcelain factory , of which he also transferred

2573-773: The Duesburys played no further part in it. Bloor borrowed heavily to be able to make the payments demanded but proved himself to be a highly able businessman in his ways of recouping losses and putting the business back on a sound financial footing. He also possessed a thorough appreciation of the aesthetic side of the business, and under him the company produced works that were richly coloured and elegantly styled, including brightly coloured Japanese Imari patterns, generally featuring intricate geometric patterns layered with various floral designs. These designs proved extremely and lastingly popular, and Derby continued to thrive. In 1845, however, Bloor died, and after three years under Thomas Clarke,

Royal Crown Derby - Misplaced Pages Continue

2656-487: The European market. Blue and white Kakiemon is called Ai-Kakiemon. The Kakiemon style transformed into Kinrande in the 18th century, using underglaze blue and overglaze red and gold enamels, and later additional colors. Imari began to be exported to Europe when the Chinese kilns at Jingdezhen were damaged in the political chaos and the new Qing dynasty government halted trade in 1656–1684. Exports to Europe were made through

2739-605: The French Jesuit father Francois Xavier d'Entrecolles and soon published in the Lettres édifiantes et curieuses de Chine par des missionnaires jésuites . The secrets, which d'Entrecolles read about and witnessed in China, were now known and began seeing use in Europe. Von Tschirnhaus along with Johann Friedrich Böttger were employed by Augustus II , King of Poland and Elector of Saxony , who sponsored their work in Dresden and in

2822-591: The German state of Saxony , the search concluded in 1708 when Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus produced a hard, white, translucent type of porcelain specimen with a combination of ingredients, including kaolin and alabaster , mined from a Saxon mine in Colditz . It was a closely guarded trade secret of the Saxon enterprise. In 1712, many of the elaborate Chinese porcelain manufacturing secrets were revealed throughout Europe by

2905-573: The Hewelke factory, which only lasted from 1758 to 1763. The soft-paste Cozzi factory fared better, lasting from 1764 to 1812. The Le Nove factory produced from about 1752 to 1773, then was revived from 1781 to 1802. The first soft-paste in England was demonstrated by Thomas Briand to the Royal Society in 1742 and is believed to have been based on the Saint-Cloud formula. In 1749, Thomas Frye took out

2988-481: The Kean period was disruptive and the company suffered financially. William Duesbury III, born in 1790, son of William Duesbury II, took over the factory when he came of age, and Kean having sold his interest to his father-in-law, William Duesbury's grandfather, named Sheffield, the concern continued under the name of Duesbury & Sheffield. In 1815, the factory was leased to the firm's salesman and clerk, Robert Bloor, and

3071-493: The Ming dynasty, and in 1598, Dutch merchants followed. Some porcelains were more highly valued than others in imperial China. The most valued types can be identified by their association with the court, either as tribute offerings, or as products of kilns under imperial supervision. Since the Yuan dynasty , the largest and best centre of production has made Jingdezhen porcelain . During the Ming dynasty, Jingdezhen porcelain had become

3154-641: The Qing Dynasty. Imitating Arita designs, fine "Chinese Imari" export wares were produced in the 18th century, eclipsing the original Japanese exports. European centers imitated the style of Imari wares, initially in faience at Delft in the Netherlands. Imari patterns, as well as "Kakiemon" designs and palette of colors, influenced some early Orientalizing wares produced by the porcelain manufactories at Meissen , Chantilly , or later at Vincennes and in Vienna . It

3237-403: The area of Arita , in the former Hizen Province , northwestern Kyūshū . They were exported to Europe in large quantities, especially between the second half of the 17th century and the first half of the 18th century. Typically Imari ware (in the English use of the term) is decorated in underglaze blue, with red, gold, black for outlines, and sometimes other colours, added in overglaze . In

3320-429: The business was developed by Duesbury and Heath, and later Duesbury alone. A talented entrepreneur, Duesbury developed a new body which contained glass frit, soapstone and calcined bone. This enabled the factory to begin producing high-quality tableware. He quickly established Derby as a leading manufacturer of dinner services and figurines by employing the best talents available for modelling and painting. Figure painting

3403-472: The classic European form for these new necessities of life. Dutch traders had a monopoly on the insatiable export trade, the first large order being placed at Arita by the Dutch East India Company in 1656. The trade peaked in the late 17th century and was slowly replaced by Chinese kilns in the early 18th century; it ended in 1756, as social conditions in China settled with the full establishment of

Royal Crown Derby - Misplaced Pages Continue

3486-485: The company at its height, developed a number of new glazes and body types. William Duesbury II did not live to fulfil his promise: he died in 1797 at the age of 34 and the company was taken over by his business partner, an Irishman named Michael Kean , who later married Duesbury's widow. He seems not to have enjoyed good relations with the highly skilled workforce, and many eminent artists left. Others however produced good work under his management, including Moses Webster,

3569-815: The composition of the Meissen hard paste was changed, and the alabaster was replaced by feldspar and quartz , allowing the pieces to be fired at lower temperatures. Kaolinite, feldspar, and quartz (or other forms of silica ) continue to constitute the basic ingredients for most continental European hard-paste porcelains. Soft-paste porcelains date back to early attempts by European potters to replicate Chinese porcelain by using mixtures of clay and frit . Soapstone and lime are known to have been included in these compositions. These wares were not yet actual porcelain wares, as they were neither hard nor vitrified by firing kaolin clay at high temperatures. As these early formulations suffered from high pyroplastic deformation, or slumping in

3652-498: The content of water can produce large changes in workability. Thus, the range of water content within which these clays can be worked is very narrow and consequently must be carefully controlled. Porcelain can be made using all the shaping techniques for pottery. Biscuit porcelain is unglazed porcelain treated as a finished product, mostly for figures and sculpture. Unlike their lower-fired counterparts, porcelain wares do not need glazing to render them impermeable to liquids and for

3735-470: The craft into the native population in the Philippines , although oral literature from Cebu in the central Philippines have noted that porcelain were already being produced by the natives locally during the time of Cebu's early rulers, prior to the arrival of colonizers in the 16th century. Olive green glaze was introduced in the late Silla Dynasty . Most ceramics from Silla are generally leaf-shaped, which

3818-437: The discovery, some kilns began to produce revised Korean-style blue and white porcelains, known as Early Imari, or "Shoki-Imari". In the mid-17th century there were also many Chinese refugees in northern Kyushu due to the turmoil in China, and it is said that one of them brought the overglaze enamel coloring technique to Arita. Thus Shoki-Imari developed into Ko-Kutani , Imari, and later Kakiemon, which are sometimes taken as

3901-477: The domestic market were highly unique in design and are accordingly valued very much among collectors. Ko-Kutani style evolved into Kakiemon-style Imari, which was produced for about 50 years around 1700. Kakiemon was characterized by crisp lines, and bright blue, red and green designs of dramatically stylized floral and bird scenes. Imari achieved its technical and aesthetic peak in the Kakiemon style, and it dominated

3984-542: The end of the period. While Xing ware is regarded as among the greatest of the Tang dynasty porcelain, Ding ware became the premier porcelain of the Song dynasty. By the Ming dynasty , production of the finest wares for the court was concentrated in a single city, and Jingdezhen porcelain , originally owned by the imperial government, remains the centre of Chinese porcelain production. By

4067-540: The highest quality UK manufacture and sets its sights on launching into a new market with a new brand ‘Royal Crown Derby Entertains’ providing fine bone china tableware to major hotels restaurants and hospitality venues throughout the world." In 2016, the company was bought by Kevin Oakes, formerly chief executive of both Crown Derby and Steelite. From the book Bow, Chelsea, and Derby Porcelain by William Bemrose (1898): The Royal Crown Derby Visitor Centre in Derby features

4150-526: The kiln at high temperatures, they were uneconomic to produce and of low quality. Formulations were later developed based on kaolin with quartz, feldspars, nepheline syenite , or other feldspathic rocks. These are technically superior and continue to be produced. Soft-paste porcelains are fired at lower temperatures than hard-paste porcelains; therefore, these wares are generally less hard than hard-paste porcelains. Although originally developed in England in 1748 to compete with imported porcelain, bone china

4233-423: The latter also including what Europeans call "stoneware", which is high-fired but not generally white or translucent. Terms such as "proto-porcelain", "porcellaneous", or "near-porcelain" may be used in cases where the ceramic body approaches whiteness and translucency. In 2021, the global market for porcelain tableware was estimated to be worth US$ 22.1 billion. Hard-paste porcelain was invented in China, and it

SECTION 50

#1733085004277

4316-575: The mid-Edo period, and that exported in the Meiji era. From the viewpoint of collectors, these two types are completely different, though Kinrande appearances are similar. Though there are many types of Imari ware, the type usually so called in the West is called kinrande in Japanese, and was produced for export in large quantities from the mid-17th century until the export trade tailed off around 1740. Kinrande has underglaze cobalt blue and overglaze red and gold, and sometimes other colors. The color combination

4399-425: The most characteristic floral designs most of the surface is coloured, with "a tendency to overdecoration that leads to fussiness". The style was so successful that Chinese and European producers began to copy it. Sometimes the different overglaze styles of Kakiemon and Kutani ware are also grouped under Imari ware. The name derives from the port of Imari, Saga , from which they were shipped to Nagasaki , where

4482-401: The most part are glazed for decorative purposes and to make them resistant to dirt and staining. Many types of glaze, such as the iron-containing glaze used on the celadon wares of Longquan , were designed specifically for their striking effects on porcelain. Porcelain often receives underglaze decoration using pigments that include cobalt oxide and copper, or overglaze enamels , allowing

4565-450: The old province). Imari ware was copied in both China and Europe, and has been continuously produced to the present day. "Early Imari" ( shoki imari ) is a traditional and somewhat confusing term used for very different wares that were made around Arita before about 1650. The porcelains are generally small and sparsely painted in underglaze blue for the domestic market, but there are also some large green celadon dishes, apparently made for

4648-559: The period. In 1890, Queen Victoria appointed Crown Derby to be " Manufacturers of porcelain to Her Majesty " and by royal warrant granted them the title "The Royal Crown Derby Porcelain Company". In 1935 Royal Crown Derby acquired the King Street factory, thus reuniting the two strands of the business. In 1964, the company was acquired by S. Pearson and Son and became part of the Allied English Potteries Group, later to be joined by Royal Doulton . In 2000, Hugh Gibson,

4731-476: The porcelain to a maximum of 1200 °C in an oxidising atmosphere, whereas reduction firing is standard practice at Chinese manufacturers. In 2018, a porcelain bushing insulator manufactured by NGK in Handa , Aichi Prefecture , Japan was certified as the world's largest ceramic structure by Guinness World Records . It is 11.3 m in height and 1.5 m in diameter. The global market for high-voltage insulators

4814-399: The portable elements to Derby. In 1773, Duesbury's hard work was rewarded by King George III , who granted him permission to incorporate the royal crown into the Derby backstamp, after which the company was known as 'Crown Derby'. In 1786, William Duesbury died, leaving the company to his son, William Duesbury II (1763–1796), also a talented director, who besides keeping the reputation of

4897-442: The properties of the porcelain, such as ASTM C515. A porcelain tile has been defined as 'a ceramic mosaic tile or paver that is generally made by the dust-pressed method of a composition resulting in a tile that is dense, fine-grained, and smooth with sharply formed face, usually impervious and having colors of the porcelain type which are usually of a clear, luminous type or granular blend thereof.' Manufacturers are found across

4980-662: The research was still being supervised by Tschirnhaus; however, he died in October of that year. It was left to Böttger to report to Augustus in March 1709 that he could make porcelain. For this reason, credit for the European discovery of porcelain is traditionally ascribed to him rather than Tschirnhaus. The Meissen factory was established in 1710 after the development of a kiln and a glaze suitable for use with Böttger's porcelain, which required firing at temperatures of up to 1,400 °C (2,552 °F) to achieve translucence. Meissen porcelain

5063-508: The rest of the world. The European name, porcelain in English, comes from the old Italian porcellana ( cowrie shell ) because of its resemblance to the surface of the shell. Porcelain is also referred to as china or fine china in some English-speaking countries, as it was first seen in imports from China during the 17th century. Properties associated with porcelain include low permeability and elasticity ; considerable strength , hardness , whiteness, translucency , and resonance ; and

SECTION 60

#1733085004277

5146-752: The rich Japanese tradition of paintings and costume design. The porcelain has a gritty texture on the base, where it is not covered by glaze. Though sophisticated wares in authentic Japanese styles were being made at Arita for the fastidious home market, European–style designations of Arita porcelain were formed after blue and white kraak porcelains, imitating Chinese underglaze "blue-and-white" wares, or made use of enamel colors over underglazes of cobalt blue and iron red. The ware often used copious gilding , sometimes with spare isolated sprigged vignettes , but often densely patterned in compartments. There were two quite different styles in these wares. Globular Imari teapots with swan-necked spouts helped establish

5229-510: The soft-paste Medici porcelain in 16th-century Florence was the first real European attempt to reproduce it, with little success. Early in the 16th century, Portuguese traders returned home with samples of kaolin, which they discovered in China to be essential in the production of porcelain wares. However, the Chinese techniques and composition used to manufacture porcelain were not yet fully understood. Countless experiments to produce porcelain had unpredictable results and met with failure. In

5312-433: The southeast Asian market, in a porcellaneous stoneware . "Imari" was simply the trans-shipment port for Arita wares, from where they went to the foreign trading outposts at Nagasaki . It was the kilns at Arita which formed the heart of the Japanese porcelain industry. Arita's kilns were set up in the 17th century, after kaolin was discovered in 1616 by immigrant Korean potter, Yi Sam-pyeong (1579–1655). After

5395-412: The start of the 19th century, and as Japan opened to trade in the second half, exports expanded hugely and quality generally declined. Much traditional porcelain continues to replicate older methods of production and styles, and there are several modern industrial manufacturers. By the early 1900s, Filipino porcelain artisans working in Japanese porcelain centres for much of their lives, later on introduced

5478-509: The telegraph line between Frankfurt and Berlin. It is widely used for insulators in electrical power transmission system due to its high stability of electrical, mechanical and thermal properties even in harsh environments. A body for electrical porcelain typically contains varying proportions of ball clay, kaolin, feldspar, quartz, calcined alumina and calcined bauxite. A variety of secondary materials can also be used, such as binders which burn off during firing. UK manufacturers typically fired

5561-481: The time of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE), porcelain wares were being exported to Asia and Europe. Some of the most well-known Chinese porcelain art styles arrived in Europe during this era, such as the coveted " blue-and-white " wares. The Ming dynasty controlled much of the porcelain trade, which was expanded to Asia, Africa and Europe via the Silk Road . In 1517, Portuguese merchants began direct trade by sea with

5644-483: The town of Meissen . Tschirnhaus had a wide knowledge of science and had been involved in the European quest to perfect porcelain manufacture when, in 1705, Böttger was appointed to assist him in this task. Böttger had originally been trained as a pharmacist; after he turned to alchemical research, he claimed to have known the secret of transmuting dross into gold, which attracted the attention of Augustus. Imprisoned by Augustus as an incentive to hasten his research, Böttger

5727-605: The unfired material is "body"; for example, when buying materials a potter might order an amount of porcelain body from a vendor. The composition of porcelain is highly variable, but the clay mineral kaolinite is often a raw material. Other raw materials can include feldspar, ball clay , glass, bone ash , steatite , quartz, petuntse and alabaster . The clays used are often described as being long or short, depending on their plasticity . Long clays are cohesive (sticky) and have high plasticity; short clays are less cohesive and have lower plasticity. In soil mechanics , plasticity

5810-602: The wet state, or because they tend to slump in the kiln under high temperature, or because the body and the glaze can be easily scratched. Experiments at Rouen produced the earliest soft-paste in France, but the first important French soft-paste porcelain was made at the Saint-Cloud factory before 1702. Soft-paste factories were established with the Chantilly manufactory in 1730 and at Mennecy in 1750. The Vincennes porcelain factory

5893-608: The world with Italy being the global leader, producing over 380 million square metres in 2006. Historic examples of rooms decorated entirely in porcelain tiles can be found in several palaces including ones at Galleria Sabauda in Turin , Museo di Doccia in Sesto Fiorentino , Museo di Capodimonte in Naples, the Royal Palace of Madrid and the nearby Royal Palace of Aranjuez . and

5976-540: Was once-fired , or green-fired . It was noted for its great resistance to thermal shock ; a visitor to the factory in Böttger's time reported having seen a white-hot teapot being removed from the kiln and dropped into cold water without damage. Although widely disbelieved this has been replicated in modern times. In 1744, Elizabeth of Russia signed an agreement to establish the first porcelain manufactory; previously it had to be imported. The technology of making "white gold"

6059-435: Was also used in Japanese porcelain . Most of the finest quality porcelain wares are made of this material. The earliest European porcelains were produced at the Meissen factory in the early 18th century; they were formed from a paste composed of kaolin and alabaster and fired at temperatures up to 1,400 °C (2,552 °F) in a wood-fired kiln, producing a porcelain of great hardness, translucency, and strength. Later,

6142-728: Was carefully hidden by its creators. Peter the Great had tried to reveal the "big porcelain secret", and sent an agent to the Meissen factory, and finally hired a porcelain master from abroad. This relied on the research of the Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Vinogradov . His development of porcelain manufacturing technology was not based on secrets learned through third parties, but was the result of painstaking work and careful analysis. Thanks to this, by 1760, Imperial Porcelain Factory, Saint Petersburg became

6225-458: Was done by Richard Askew, particularly skilled at painting cupids , and James Banford. Zachariah Boreman and John Brewer painted landscapes, still lifes, and pastorals. Intricate floral patterns were designed and painted by William Billingsley . In 1770, Duesbury further increased the already high reputation of Derby by his acquisition of the famous Chelsea porcelain factory in London. From this point

6308-428: Was established in 1740, moving to larger premises at Sèvres in 1756. Vincennes soft-paste was whiter and freer of imperfections than any of its French rivals, which put Vincennes/Sèvres porcelain in the leading position in France and throughout the whole of Europe in the second half of the 18th century. Doccia porcelain of Florence was founded in 1735 and remains in production, unlike Capodimonte porcelain which

6391-506: Was estimated to be worth US$ 4.95 billion in 2015, of which porcelain accounts for just over 48%. A type of porcelain characterised by low thermal expansion, high mechanical strength and high chemical resistance. Used for laboratory ware, such as reaction vessels, combustion boats, evaporating dishes and Büchner funnels . Raw materials for the body include kaolin, quartz, feldspar, calcined alumina, and possibly also low percentages of other materials. A number of International standards specify

6474-409: Was made from two parts of bone ash , one part of kaolin , and one part of china stone , although the latter has been replaced by feldspars from non-UK sources. Kaolin is the primary material from which porcelain is made, even though clay minerals might account for only a small proportion of the whole. The word paste is an old term for both unfired and fired materials. A more common terminology for

6557-493: Was moved from Naples to Madrid by its royal owner , after producing from 1743 to 1759. After a gap of 15 years Naples porcelain was produced from 1771 to 1806, specializing in Neoclassical styles. All these were very successful, with large outputs of high-quality wares. In and around Venice , Francesco Vezzi was producing hard-paste from around 1720 to 1735; survivals of Vezzi porcelain are very rare, but less so than from

6640-428: Was not seen in China at that time. Traditional Ming dynasty color porcelain used dominantly red and green, probably due to scarcity of gold in China, whereas gold was abundant in Japan in those days. The subject matter of Arita is diverse, ranging from foliage and flowers to people, scenery and abstractions. Some designs such as Kraak porcelain were adopted from China, but most designs were uniquely Japanese owing to

6723-399: Was obliged to work with other alchemists in the futile search for transmutation and was eventually assigned to assist Tschirnhaus. One of the first results of the collaboration between the two was the development of a red stoneware that resembled that of Yixing . A workshop note records that the first specimen of hard, white and vitrified European porcelain was produced in 1708. At the time,

6806-462: Was produced in kilns owned by the families of feudal lords, and were decorated in the Japanese tradition, much of it related to textile design. This was not initially exported, but used for gifts to other aristocratic families. Imari ware and Kakiemon are broad terms for styles of export porcelain with overglaze "enamelled" decoration begun in the early period, both with many sub-types. A great range of styles and manufacturing centres were in use by

6889-467: Was the original potter's wheel of the Duesburys, still owned by the present Royal Derby Company. In 1877, an impressive new factory was built by new owners of the Crown Derby name in Osmaston Road, Derby, thus beginning the modern period of Derby porcelain. Crown Derby's patterns became immensely popular during the late Victorian era , as their romantic and lavish designs exactly met the popular taste of

#276723