Some Facts about Porcelain

Discovered in China, the Song Dynasty was the first dynasty to ever create royal porcelain factories, which were charged with creating fine porcelain wares.

The significance of porcelain had a great deal to do with the time-consuming nature of its creation. It involves the melding of the 2 main ingredients, kaolin & petuntse at 1250 degrees. The product of these 2 ingredients produces an exclusive quality of porcelain, thereby giving it its refined delicacy and fragility.

Porcelain is derived from the old Italian term, porcellana (cowrie shell) because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell.

The composition of porcelain is highly variable. The clay mineral kaolinite is often a significant component. Clays used for porcelain are generally of lower plasticity and are shorter than many other pottery clays. They wet very quickly, meaning that small changes in the content of water can produce large changes in workability. Unlike the other types of clay, the range of water content for porcelain clay is very narrow. The loss or gain of water during storage and throwing or forming must be carefully controlled to keep the clay from becoming too wet or too dry to manipulate.

Unlike their lower-fired counterparts, porcelain wares do not need glazing to render them impermeable to liquids and for the most part are glazed for decorative purposes and to make them resistant to dirt.

In the firing process, green (unfired) ceramic wares are heated to high temperatures in a kiln to permanently set their shapes. Porcelain is fired at a higher temperature than earthen ware.