2023-02-01
Porcelain is a fine, thin-walled, white ceramic that is characterised by its translucence in a thin layer. Invented in China in the 7th century, it only came to Europe in the 18th century, becoming 'white gold' and reaching gold bullion prices.
What is porcelain?
Porcelain is made from a mixture of kaolin, quartz, and feldspar. Depending on the percentage composition of the individual components, a distinction can be made between soft and hard porcelain. Soft porcelain contains approx. 25-40% kaolin, while hard porcelain contains 40-60% of the component, Suitably shaped dishes are fired at a high temperature. The exact firing temperature depends on whether glazed or unglazed dishes are fired. Glazed hard porcelain pieces are fired at 1280-1460 °C, while soft porcelain pieces are fired at a slightly lower temperature of 1280-1320 °C. To be precise, unglazed porcelain is fired at a much lower temperature of less than 1000 °C, 920-980 °C.
Characteristics and history
'White gold' is a low-absorbent, mechanically strong and impermeable material, which is why it found wide application in technology and became readily used in the manufacture of household appliances, although initially, European porcelain was an elitist product with the character of a work of art. In Europe, porcelain began to be made at the beginning of the 18th century by Ehrenfried Walther von Tschirnhaus, a German scientist whose recipe was later perfected and continued by Johann Friedrich Böttger, the alchemist of Augustus II the Strong. Porcelain made its appearance in Britain a little later, in 1745, when a recipe for bone china was developed by Thomas Frye. Despite this late start in production, porcelain had been known in Europe since the 11th century. The recipe for whiteware was a mystery that Europeans were still trying to unravel in the 15th century. The result of these efforts, long before the work of Tschirnhaus and Böttger, was the development in the 16th century in Florence of the so-called Medici porcelain – an artificial, soft porcelain that was later produced in France.
The oldest European porcelain factory is the Meissen porcelain factory, operating since 1710. In Poland, the factory in Korzec, founded in 1790, could boast such a title.
