46o ART INDUSTRY AND RELATED OCCUPATIONS. 



G. Wagener^ classifies the common or hard porcelain according 

 to the amount and relation of silicic acid contained, as follows : 



a. Clay porcelain, like that of Meissen and Sevres. It contains 

 30 to 36 per cent, of alumina, and may be considered as a mixture 

 of infusible bi-silicate of alumina (AI2O3, 2 Si Oo) with glass free 

 from argillaceous material. 



/;. Flint porcelain. This contains a surplus of silicic acid, and 

 can be baked in a lower temperature than the two other groups. 

 It approaches glass porcelain most nearly. By far the greatest 

 amount of the porcelain brought to the market belongs to this 

 class, especially the Chinese, Japanese, and Bohemian. 



c. Silicate porcelain, a group formed chiefly of the porcelain 

 product of Berlin, which, as is well known, requires a high degree 

 of heat for baking, and excels all others in hardness and fireproof 

 quality. Under the microscope, it appears as a glass-like, amor- 

 phous, homogeneous mass, corresponding to the qualities above 

 named, and likewise in its chemical composition, consisting as it 

 does of over 70 per cent, of tri-silicate of alumina (AI3 O3, 3Si Oo) 

 with about 24 per cent, of glass free from clay. 



It is well known that the Chinese invented porcelain. Six 

 hundred years ago they manufactured many kinds of vessels from 

 it, and decorated some of them with beautiful colours, which we 

 are not yet able to imitate. Whoever wishes to see and study 

 their great accomplishments, even at a time when the most of our 

 clay-ware was still very rough and coarse, needs only to examine 

 the fine Royal collection at Dresden. It has been arranged chrono- 

 logically as far as possible, but the question as to the time of the 

 manufacture of the first porcelain is as little answered there as 

 elsewhere. Much has been written and argued concerning it, but 

 still opinions are as divergent to-day as ever. This much is agreed 

 upon, however, that the invention is not to be referred to a period 

 before the Christian era. 



In the district of Jaotscheu, province of Kiang-si, east of Lake 

 Poyang, is situated the celebrated King-te-tschin, which supplies 

 all China with porcelain. It is said to have employed in former 

 times over 3,000 furnaces for burning porcelain, and a million of 

 workmen. 



The Tai-ping Rebellion, which dealt such a heavy blow to 

 Chinese art industry some thirty years ago, from which it has not 

 yet fully recovered, destroyed also the furnaces of King-te-tschin, 

 together with the closely connected flourishing industry of the 

 inhabitants. Although much has been done since then to revive 

 it, it has not yet attained its former capabilities. 



King-te-tschin is situated about 54 kilometers north-east of the 

 capital Jaotscheu, and was named about 1004 A.D., after an 

 emperor of the Sung dynasty, who established the first porcelain 



1 " Ueber Glas, Glasuren, Porzellan, Steinzeuge und feuerfeste Thone," by 

 Dr. G. Wagener in Tokio, Dingl. Pol. Jounial^ Bd. 246 (1882), p. -^-i^. 



