102 



PORCELAIN. 



Introduc- 

 tion into 

 Europe. 



Porcelain, art was known, also, at a very remote date in Japan, 

 and a few other places in the east, in none of which, 

 however, has it rivalled the production of the mighty 

 empire where it was invented. The Portuguese * are 

 generally allowed to have been the first that introduced 

 the knowledge of it into Europe ; but at what date has 

 not been ascertained, though, after it was introduced, 

 many ages elapsed ere any attempts were made to car- 

 ry it into practice. It is not, indeed, much more than 

 a century since porcelain was really manufactured in 

 this quarter of the globe. M. de Botticher, a German 

 chemist, had the honour of being the first in Europe 

 that understood the nature of porcelain manufacture, or 

 rather who invented it. This philosopher having been 

 thrown into prison on suspicion of being master of the 

 philosopher's stone, continued his experiments, though 

 in confinement, with inflexible ardour, and thus fabri- 

 cated, though accidentally, the first porcelain really 

 made in the western world. In making some crucibles, 

 he found that heat imparted to them the appearance of 

 porcelain, which, imported from China, was common 

 ^throughout Europe ; and this accidental discovery laid 

 the foundation of that celebrated manufactory at Meis- 

 sen, near Dresden, which has produced porcelain of 

 the most beautiful and perfect kind, the best certainly 

 in Europe, and reckoned by some not much inferior to 

 any manufactured in China. Botticher, however, (who 

 died in 1719,) understood the art of making white por- 

 celain only, the endless variety of colour of which this 

 ware is susceptible not having been known for some 

 years after his death. He was succeeded by several 

 eminent philosophers and manufacturers, particularly 

 M. Reaumur, who improved upon his discoveries, and 

 contributed to bring the art to very considerable per- 

 fection in Europe, and almost to rival, in some respects, 

 the ancient and celebrated manufactnres of the east. 

 The first European porcelains were made in Saxony. 

 France soon followed the example ; and manufactories 

 of this article were ere long established in England, 

 and in all the principal countries in Europe, each of 

 thqse places possessing some characteristics peculiar to 

 itself, and all differing more or less from the porcelain 

 of China or Japan, yet not reckoned inferior to them 

 in any hopeless degree, either in beauty, lustre, or 

 value. 



Of what In China, the principal materials of which porcelain 



substances is formed are two kinds of stone or earth, denominated 

 formed. kaolin and petuntse, with two kinds of oil or varnish, 

 one of which is extracted from the hard stone of which 

 the petuntses are formed, 'while the other is the oil of 

 lime, obtained, as shall soon be shown, by a consider- 

 Kaolin and ably tedious preparation. Of the nature of kaolin and 

 petuntse, petuntse, there have been many various conjectures. 

 This question, however, may be said now to be about 

 decided. These substances have been analysed by 

 Reaumur, Scheffer. and others, whose opinions and in- 

 ferences have very nearly coincided. The analysis of 

 Vauquelin, which has obtained the authority of the 

 late Dr. John Murray of Edinburgh, and which is not 

 essentially different from that of his predecessors, may 

 be regarded as perfectly satisfactory and unexception- 



able. The result of the analysis is as follows ; the kao- Porcelain, 

 lin consists of silex 74-, alumina 16.5, lime 2, and water 

 7 ; the petuntse of silex 74, alumina 14>.5, lime 5.5. 

 The two principal ingredients, therefore, of which por- 

 celain is made, are of a siliceous and argillaceous cha- 

 racter, in which the former predominates. Though si- 

 liceous earth is the ingredient in largest proportion in 

 these compounds, yet it is the argillaceous substance 

 which gives them their character, as it communicates 

 ductility to the mixture when soft, and renders it cap- 

 able of being turned to any shape on the lathe, and of 

 being baked, a process afterwards to be described. The 

 perfection of porcelain consists in the purity of these 

 ingredients ; and hence, in Europe, the purest natural 

 clays, or those which consist of silicia and alumina 

 alone, are always preferred. From the above analysis, 

 it is evident that there is rather less than five per cent, 

 of lime in the two substances in question. Lime in 

 that proportion does not injure, or rather it improves 

 the character of the porcelain ; but, in greater propor- 

 tions, it renders the mixtures too fusible ; in which case 

 the purity of the other ingredients, and the greatest 

 care or ingenuity on the part of the workmen, can be 

 of no avail. Petuntse and kaolin are found in quarries 

 of great depth, and of inexhaustible extent, about twen- 

 ty or thirty miles from King-te-tching, and in other 

 parts of the east. Identical substances are not to be 

 found in any part of the western world, though analo- 

 gous ones are sufficiently abundant. " It is difficult," to Difficulty 

 quote the words of a celebrated chemist, " to procure in >n finding 

 Europe natural clays equally pure ; and hence, in part, daysequal- 

 the difficulty of imitating the porcelain of the east. ^J, fil 

 Such clays, however, have now been discovered in dif- ur P e- 

 ferent countries, and the European porcelain has at- 

 tained considerable perfection. The fine Dresden por- 

 celain, that of Berlin, the French porcelain, and the 

 finer kinds which are formed in this country, are ma- 

 nufactured of the clay which has received the name of 

 porcelain earth, and which appears in general to be de- 

 rived from the decomposition of the feldspar of granite," 

 of the nature of which, it may be remarked, petuntse 

 and kaolin, according to M. Bomare and others, partake 

 in an. eminent degree. " The clay of Cornwall, from 

 which the finer kinds of English porcelain are made, 

 has this origin. Earthy mixtures, containing magne- 

 sia, are also used in the manufacture. Giobert analysed 

 an earth which had long been employed for this pur- 

 pose and considered as a clay of great purity, and 

 found that it consisted almost entirely of carbonate of 

 magnesia and silex. The proportion of the earths to 

 each other is likewise of importance ; and from differ- 

 ences in this respect arises the necessity frequently of 

 employing mixtures of clays. The proportion of silex 

 in porcelain of a good quality is, according to Vauque- 

 lin, at least two-thirds of the composition ; and of alu- 

 mina from a fifth to a third ; magnesia is of utility by 

 lessening the tendency which the composition of the 

 other earths alone has to contract in baking. From 

 what we know of the fusibility of mixtures of these 

 earths, too large a proportion of magnesia will render 

 the composition too. fusible." 



* If conjecture, which is supported by no less a man than Scaliger, may be relied on, this art was known to the Romans, and could not 

 therefore have been introduced into Europe from China, as no communication was opened with the east till many centuries after the fall of 

 the Roman empire. The terms vata, murrhina, vmrrina>, murrea, have been regarded by that famous scholar as synonymous with our 

 modern iianie porcelain. Others, with more probability, have supposed that the vessels to which these terms are applied, and which are 

 described by I'liny, were made of a species of precious stones, found in Parthia, of a colour and appearance not unlike the manufacture 

 which forms the subject of this article. The Romans, at least, it is well known, understood the manufacture of- pottery, which is a kind- 

 red art, at an extremely distant period. (Plinii Hitt. Natur. xxxvii. 2.) 



