PORCELAIN. 



641 



brilliant glass covering for it, but one not ho- 

 mogeneous with the body, and liable to crackle, 

 craze, or chip off, on being subjected to a mod- 

 erately high heat, or intense cold, the expan- 

 sion and contraction of the body and glaze 

 being different. For many purposes of fictile 

 art, these wares are very beautiful ; they may 

 be made so thin and delicate, and the glazing 

 so brilliant, that they will resemble the finest 

 translucent and egg-shell porcelains of China 

 and Japan, and when artistically decorated 

 they have an exquisite effect; but they are 

 very fragile, and, if exposed to great changes 

 of temperature, their beauty is destroyed. 



Below these in quality, and not meriting the 

 name of porcelain, either natural or artificial, 

 are the great variety of faiences, with the body 

 earthen, of a white or colored clay (not kaolin 

 or feldspar), and a transparent glaze, usually 

 largely plumbiferous, though sometimes alka- 

 line, which may be either colorless or colored. 

 Still below these wares, having an earthen body 

 with a non-vitrified break, are those which 

 have an opaque glaze, or rather enamel, usually 

 of some of the salts of tin, and either colored 

 or colorless. To these two latter classes belong 

 the Henri II faience, the Wedgwood- wares, 

 and the Meakin, Cecil, Montereau, Palissy, and 

 Nuremberg faiences, and Minton's majolica. 

 These all have lead or stanniferous glazes. 



The faiences of Persia, of China and Japan, 

 and of Deck, have all a colorless alkaline glaze, 

 while the Limoges faiences of Haviland, Brac- 

 quemond, and Chaplet, are colored, though still 

 alkaline. The opaque earthen-body wares, with 

 an opaque stanniferous glaze, include the Delia 

 Robbia, Rovigo, Fontana, Rouen, Moustiers, 

 Nevers, Delft, Ulysses de Blois, and St. Clem- 

 ent wares, all of which have had in their day, 

 and some of them still retain, a high reputation. 



These faiences, Wedgwood, and Delft wares, 

 only concern us in the present article from the 

 development of porcelain manufacture from 

 these lower grades of pottery wares, and espe- 

 cially in this country. 



Porcelain, in the true meaning of the term, 

 originated in China. There is conclusive evi- 

 dence that it was manufactured there at least 

 1,800 years ago. From China it was intro- 

 duced into Persia, Egypt, and Barbary, at a 

 very early period, and into Japan from the 

 thirteenth to the fifteenth century. It was 

 introduced into Europe about the beginning of 

 the sixteenth century. The artificial or soft 

 porcelain, pate tendre, was the first to be pro- 

 duced there. It is said that a Venetian potter 

 made porcelain about 1520 ; but no specimens 

 of it are now known. The first success of 

 which there are substantial evidences was at 

 Florence in 1580. In 1671 Dr. Dwight, of 

 Fulham, England, made an independent discov- 

 ery of the process, and manufactured it there. 

 In 1695 M. Chicanneau made a similar inde- 

 pendent discovery at St. Cloud, France. These 

 and many other manufacturers in Europe made 

 only soft porcelain, using white clay, bone, etc., 

 VOL. xxin. 41 A 



for the body. Kaolin was as yet an unknown 

 earth. About the year 1709 a bed of kaolin 

 was accidentally discovered at or near the 

 village of Aue, near Schneeberg, in Saxony. 



John Frederick Bdttger, or Bdttcher, a chem- 

 ist's assistant at Berlin, had fallen under the 

 suspicion of the government as an alchemist, 

 and, about 1706, took refuge in Saxony, under 

 the protection of the Elector Augustus II. The 



FIG. 1. 



Elector questioned him, and, being satisfied, 

 placed him in the laboratory of a chemist, who 

 was endeavoring to discover the " Philosopher's 

 Stone." Here Bottger surprised himself by 



E reducing something akin to Chinese porce- 

 lin ; and the Elector gave him every facility for 

 prosecuting his experiments to that end. He was 

 established at first at Meissen, then at Koniff- 

 stein, and finally at Dresden. His first results 

 were comparatively rude ; then he succeeded 

 in producing a reddish stone-ware, and after- 

 ward a dull- white porcelain. At this time, 

 Hans Schnorr, a wealthy iron-founder, while 

 riding near Schneeberg, noticed that his horse 

 lifted his feet with great difficulty. On exam- 

 ination he found that he was passing through 

 a bed of clay, which was very- white and pecul- 

 iarly adhesive. At that time hair-powder was 

 in great demand, and was very dear. Herr 

 Schnorr conceived the idea that this clay might 

 be made profitable, as a cheap substitute for it. 

 He tried the experiment, and was successful 



