|
|
|
Fine China
Qualities & History
|
Porcelain
is a type of hard semi-translucent
ceramic
fired at a higher temperature than glazed earthenware, or
pottery.
It is white, but mildly translucent and can be decorated
to provide colour.
There are
three main kinds of porcelain: hard-paste porcelain,
soft-paste porcelain, and bone china.
The differences
between these types of porcelain are based on the material
from which they are made. This material is called the body
or paste.
Hard-paste
porcelain, has always been the model and ideal of
porcelain makers. It is the type of porcelain first
developed by the Chinese.
|
|
|
Porcelain
Around
The World |
Chinese
porcelain is made from a hard paste comprised of the clay
kaolin and a
feldspar
called
petuntse, which cements the vessel and seals any
pores.
Hard-paste
porcelain resists melting far better than other kinds of
porcelain. For this reason, it can be fired at higher
temperatures. These hot temperatures cause the body and the
glaze to become one. When hard-paste porcelain is broken, it
is impossible to distinguish the body from the glaze
Soft-paste
porcelain, was developed in Europe in an attempt to imitate
Chinese hard-paste porcelain. Soft-paste porcelain
is fired at lower temperatures and does not completely
vitrify--that is, it remains somewhat porous. Breaking a piece
of soft-paste porcelain reveals a grainy body covered with a
glassy layer of glaze.
Although soft-paste porcelain was invented in imitation of
true porcelain, it has merits of its own. Most of it is creamy
in tone, and some people prefer this color to pure white. In
addition, the colors used to decorate it merge with the glaze
to produce a soft, silky effect that appeals to many
collectors.
Imari porcelain is the European collectors' name for Japanese wares made at
Arita
and exported from the port of
Imari specifically for the European
export trade.
The
kilns at Arita formed the heart of the Japanese
porcelain industry, which developed in the course of the
17th
century, after the white
kaolin clay was discovered, and came to rival
the output of the
Chinese kilns.
Blue-and-white porcelain made
at Arita was also widely exported to Europe through the
Dutch East India Company, but "Imari porcelain" connotes
wares more specifically designed to appeal to the European taste.
Very fine "Chinese Imari" export wares were
produced in the 18th century, eclipsing the original Japanese exports.
By the
1700's, porcelain manufactured in many parts of Europe was starting to compete
with Chinese porcelain. France, Germany, Italy, and England became the major
centers for European porcelain production.
The first European soft-paste
porcelain was produced in Florence, Italy, about 1575
A German chemist named Johann Friedrich Bottger discovered the secret of making
hard-paste porcelain in 1708 or 1709. This discovery led to the establishment of
a porcelain factory in
Meissen
in 1710.
The first European
porcelain was manufactured in Meissen
1710 and the Royal-Polish-Electoral-Saxonian Porcelain Manufactory was opened in the Albrechtsburg-castle.
Later, in
1861, it was moved in the Triebisch valley of Meissen, where the
Porcelain Manufactory of Meissen can still be found today. Today it manufactures the
world-famous Meissen
porcelain.
The great success of Meissen porcelain can be partly attributed to the fine
artists who decorated it. They painted the wares with an amazing variety of
colors and designs.
Because the
Europeans used a soft
paste, which makes for weaker porcelain than the Chinese method, around
1750 the
English
began to compensate by using calcined
bone ash
to strengthen their porcelain, with the resulting material known as
bone china.
Bone china
is basically made by adding bone ash (burned animal bones) to kaolin and
petuntse. England still produces nearly all the world's bone china. Though not
as hard as true porcelain, bone china is more durable than soft-paste porcelain.
The bone ash greatly increases the translucence of the porcelain. England is well known as the center for
the production of bone china.
Worcester
porcelain, first produced in 1751, is one of the oldest and best English
porcelains.
Josiah Spode
developed a bone china paste that became the standard English paste in 1800.
Spode china featured a large number of designs but was especially noted for its
exotic birds.
France became famous during the 1700's as the leading producer of soft-paste
porcelain. The most celebrated type of soft-paste porcelain was first
produced at Vincennes in 1738. In 1756, the factory was moved to the town of Sevres.
Its soft-paste porcelain became known as Sevres.
In
1771
kaolinic clay, the fine white clay
indispensable for making
hard-paste porcelain,
was discovered near Limoges. Under the impetus of the progressive
economist
Turgot, a new
ceramics industry was developed, and
Limoges porcelain became famous during the 19th century.
Porcelain painting
in Europe differed greatly from porcelain painting in China. Chinese decorators
separated each color from the next with a dark outline, but European artists
blended colors together with no separating line. In addition, Europeans used
decorations purely for their artistic value, but Chinese decorations were
symbolic. For example, a pomegranate design symbolized a wish for many offspring
because a pomegranate has many seeds.
|
From Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia. |
|
|
|
Called the ‘Red City’, for its many kilns firing day and
night, Limoges seems always to have been a by-word for
exquisite china, but in fact it only really emerged two
centuries ago when a very pure supply of kaolin was discovered
near-by.
|
Limoges Kiln Interior |
Porcelain which required this type of extra-fine clay (as
opposed to the inferior ‘soft-paste’) was first made in France
in the 1760s at the royal factory in Sèvres. The
technique filtered originally from China to Meissen in
Dresden, from there the industrial secret gradually leaked to
the rest of Europe.
Limoges has had a reputation for enamels since the XIIc so it
was logical that a chinaworks be set up here, particularly as
fuel for the kilns grew abundantly in the region’s forests,
and the Vienne river made distribution easy.
Although the original Limoges works were a subsidiary of those
of Sèvres, the local people soon set up their own factories
and developed their own decorative style.
At the turn of the century, there were no less than 35
porcelain works in Limoges with an annual production of up to
3,000 firings.
|
Contemporary Limoges
|
|
|
|
|
The Story of Haviland
Limoges Porcelain |
|
The history of Haviland China is a remarkable tale of
determination, ingenuity and devoted craftsmanship. While
most people associate old Haviland porcelain with the French,
in reality an American began the first Haviland china
factory. David Haviland worked as a partner in the New
York-based D.G. & D. Haviland Trading Co., an importer in
English and French dinnerware, during the early to mid-
1800’s. One day a customer brought him a piece of china she
wished to match, and the events that followed have become the
legend of Haviland China.
It
was only a broken teacup, but something about the quality of
the porcelain struck Haviland with an insatiable curiosity
about its origin. The fragile piece was remarkably white
in color, almost translucent, and the consistency of the china
itself was delicate and impermeable. Haviland knew this
old porcelain must be French, but being a devoted dinnerware
importer, he could not be satisfied until he had located the
exact place in France where this impeccable china was
manufactured.
After
extensive travel through France, Haviland found the very
factory that had produced the elusive teacup. It was located
in Foecy, north of the region of Limoges. He special ordered
several sets from this factory, suggesting particular designs
to suit American tastes. However, the products he eventually
received were not yet worthy of the name Haviland China.
Undeterred,
David Haviland moved his family to Limoges, France in 1841 to
begin his own factory. Limoges was already a leading center
of pottery manufacturing, but he chose the region because it
was then one of the few places in the world in which the
natural clay ingredient needed to make china, “kaolin,” could
be found. While similar materials could be found elsewhere,
even in certain places in the United States, it was only the
Limoges “kaolin” that, when fired, was capable of replicating
the non-porous eggshell whiteware he had been seeking all
along...click
to continue with complete Haviland history from "Antique
China Porcelain & Collectibles" site
|
|
|
|
|
|
The original factory was built
in 1863, on Rue Albert
Thomas
in Limoges, France
More to come soon about
Bernardaud Limoges
A history of Royal Limoges
coming soon
|
|
|
|
