HISTORICAL NOTES ON KAOLIN 



A disquisition on the beginnings of porcelain should take regard 

 also of the question as to when and how those elementary materials 

 that compose porcelain made their first appearance. Porcelain is a 

 variety of pottery the body of which consists essentially of two in- 

 gredients of earthen origin, that are fired together. These two sub- 

 stances widely occur in nature, and are designated by us with their 

 Chinese names, "kaolin" and "petuntse." The former is a white 

 clay, infusible, lending plasticity to the paste, and forming the body 

 of the vessel. Geologically it originated through a gradual process 

 of decomposition of granite and analogous crystalline rocks. 1 The 

 latter is a hard feldspathic stone, fusible at a high temperature, con- 

 stituting the glaze and responsible for its transparency. 



The fact that kaolin is used in the composition of Chinese porcelain 

 has been unduly emphasized, or even exaggerated, by European his- 

 torians of porcelain. Kaolin was heralded as a sort of important 

 discovery, that led to the revolutionizing of the potter's art; and an 

 inquiry into the time when Chinese authors begin to speak of the 

 substance was even taken as a test for the beginnings of porcelain 

 itself. This is not a correct conception of the matter. Kaolin is 

 nothing but a natural clay, not of very unusual occurrence, and, in 

 fact, has been utilized by potters outside of China without resulting in 

 any porcelain-like product. 2 Kaolin itself cannot make porcelain, 

 and the presence of kaolin in the composition of a certain vessel does 

 not constitute proof of its being porcelain. Kaolin should not be 

 confused with the kaolinite of which it is composed. The mineral 



1 See Prestwich, Geology, Chemical, Physical, and Stratigraphical, Vol. I, p. 48. 



2 Thus in India a white earthenware is made from a decaying white granite, 

 which is carefully washed, and kneaded into a clay that produces a porous white 

 ware. . . . This clay is in composition the same as the kaolin of China, and is very 

 abundant in India (H. H. Cole, Indian Art in the South Kensington Museum, 

 p. 201). The Singalese potter (in the same manner as his Chinese colleague during 

 the T'ang period) uses kaolin as a white paint for decorating pottery (A. K. Cooma- 

 raswamy, Mediaeval Sinhalese Art, p. 225; see also Watt, Dictionary of the Eco- 

 nomic Products of India, Vol. II, p. 364). It is well known that kaolinic deposits 

 are found in England, France, Germany, and North America, and are well known 

 from many other parts of the world. As to America, compare, for instance, the 

 interesting study of A. S. Watts, Mining and Treatment of Feldspar and Kaolin 

 in the Southern Appalachian Regions (Bulletin No. 53 of the Department of the 

 Interior, Bureau of Mines, Washington, 1913). 



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