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Collections / Antiques / Porcelain, ceramics / Porcelain History
Porcelain History
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Porcelain History
Taking Care of Porcelain
Symbolism on Chinese porcelain
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A.Galushkov's Kitchen Utensils Collection
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A thousand-year-old tradition - started in the Far East

Like many inventions of great wisdom, porcelain, the most beautiful and delicate of man-made materials, came to us from the Orient.

The first true porcelain, also known as hard-paste porcelain, was probably made at the end of the 6th century. It was based on a mixture of kaolin (aluminium silicate) and petunse (aluminium and potassium silicate).

The greater part of porcelain that was preserved from this period depicts people and animals and was found in graves.

People believed then that distinguished persons should reach the great beyond equipped with household goods, servants and livestock.

The beauty of this magical material, its delicacy and translucence, drew both admiration and greed from all the courts of the world.

Along the silk route, caravans transported the fragile merchandise to the Islamic lands and even to Europe.

Marco Polo, on his return from Central Asia at the end of the 13th century, wrote most enthusiastically about this noble material that was known in Italy as porceletta.

But it was the Portuguese, the period`s great navigators, who created the word porsolana, in reference to the white, phosphorescent cowrie shell and its use as a coin.

Porcelain reaches the royal courts of Europe
After Europeans learned to reach the Far East by sea, in the 16th century, a very lively trading scene developed. Monarchs and aristocrats set aside specially designed rooms in their palaces to show off their frequently immense collections of fine porcelain art.

High society families had also adopted the custom of taking tea, coffee, or chocolate and the choice of the actual service became a prestige affair.

It should be no surprise, therefore, that a feverish desire spread through European ceramics manufacturers to learn the secret guarded by the Oriental.


Porcelain made in Europe/ The great names

A hard-paste porcelain comparable to the Oriental blend was first produced in Europe by the German chemist Johann Friedrich Bцttger.

This discovery led to the founding of the Meissen name in 1710, whose domination in the manufacture of hard-paste porcelains was to last almost a century. Its success was partly due to the artists who decorated the pieces with such special dedication and great refinement.

Like Meissen in Germany, the French factories of Sиvres and Vincennes also enjoyed state support and were able to devote their efforts to producing luxury works.

Their artists introduced new and undulating rococo designs based on strong colours.

Through the present

When the pioneering manufacturers of porcelain art lost their predominance, many new producers throughout Europe were ready to keep up the tradition.

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