Ceramics home: Porcelain.

Porcelain

True or 'hard paste' porcelain is made out of kaolin (china-clay) and petuntse (china-stone), which are both forms of decomposing granite. When fired at high temperature (over 1300°C), the ingredients fuse together to form a fine, white translucent ceramic perfectly suited for containing hot liquids such as tea, coffee and chocolate.

Hard paste porcelain was first made in China in the ninth century and was known as 'china' in the West. From the middle of the sixteenth century, China exported its blue and white porcelain wares to Europe, in ships also carrying consignments of tea and other exotic goods, through the English and Dutch East India Companies. By the end of the seventeenth century, European potters and entrepreneurs were attempting to discover the secret of making porcelain with local materials to satisfy the demand of the tea-drinking upper classes. There were huge profits to be made in china manufacture. In 1710 the Duke of Saxony's alchemist J F Böttger managed to recreate porcelain at Meissen near Dresden in Germany. The recipe was closely guarded but eventually the secret spread to the rest of Europe.

The Museum of London has significant holdings of eighteenth century English porcelain, particularly from the Chelsea and Bow factories. There are also some important pieces of Chinese export porcelain, mainly with armorial decoration. There are a number of donations of personal collections, including the J G Joicey collection, the Salting bequest, and the K H Macalaster collection of over 400 teacups.

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Related objects

There are 524 related objects.

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74.3/350 tea bowl; miniature tea bowl. 1775-1785	A25677b saucer. 1751-1800	A25677a tea bowl. 1751-1800	Z4082 saucer.
Z4069 saucer. 1751-1800	Z4068 cup. 1751-1800	NN13283 dish; salt dish. 1751-1800	A14909 bowl; punch bowl. 1701-1725
26075 bowl; slop bowl. 1751-1900	25282 pot.	25281 pot; pot lid.	25280 pot.
25279 pot; pot lid.	25278 pot.	25240 saucer. 1651-1750	24371 bowl.
24370 saucer. 1651-1750	22801 plate; platter. 1801-1900	21384 saucer. 1720-1740	21352 saucer.
21351 cup. 1701-1800	21323 tea bowl. 1701-1800	18938 tea bowl. 1696-1715	18937 cup.

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