The word “porcelain” comes from the Latin word “porcella,” which means “seashell.” Indeed, pieces of true porcelain are so fine that they are translucent when held up to a light.
Ceramics encompass a wide variety of clay vessels; however, the four main categories are earthenware, stoneware, bone china, and porcelain. These categories’ definitions are rather vague and overlap; earthenware and stoneware are coarser and more porous and may be glazed or painted or left with the raw color. Although the vessel walls may be thicker, they are quite fragile compared to porcelain. Japanese earthenware is famous for its natural, earthy colors and its coarse and stubbled texture. Porcelain, on the other hand, used a very fine-grained clay called “kaolin.” It was vitrified or exposed to high heat until it resembled glass texture, which rendered it surprisingly durable.
Porcelain originated in China. It first came about in the Tang Dynasty (7th century), where artisans glazed white clay at a low temperature, painted the vessels with spots in shades of green, yellow, red, and blue, and finished by firing at a higher temperature. However, this dynasty’s pieces did not resemble the fine and eggshell-thin pieces that we associate Chinese porcelain with today. The famed blue-and-white porcelain came about in the Yuan Dynasty in the 12th century; it was also in this dynasty where the Chinese started selling porcelain pieces. Before, pottery was used primarily for funerary purposes. Porcelain making continued in the Ming Dynasty, utilizing more colors such as red and pink and different motifs. Chinese porcelain was greatly coveted in the West: porcelain so thin and beautiful had never been made before in Europe. Like in the making of silk, the Chinese kept a grasp over the making of porcelain, which raised prices since pieces could only be bought from China. This rendered porcelain was a symbol of wealth since pieces were sold at staggering prices. Chinese porcelain was even named “china.”
However, China ceased its monopoly on porcelain when the Medici workshops produced the first European-made porcelain in the 16th century. However, they honed that skill until they started mass-producing in the 17th and 18th centuries. Western porcelain was very different from Eastern; Chinese porcelain utilized detailed motifs of dragons and flowers on vases and cups, whereas European porcelain was developed to encompass even porcelain figurines and clocks, candelabras, and dolls. European porcelain was flowery and detailed to the point of absurdity, where pieces were overcrowded with motifs and painted with over-bright colors. However, European pottery expanded on how the clay could be used to decorate vessels instead of the paintings being the sole attraction. There has been experimentation with latticed bowls, bone china using crushed cows’ bones to create even more delicacy and transparency, and utilizing different colors to create more diversity.
Porcelain has undergone much change throughout the years; it has earned itself a place in the list of central art mediums.
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