KERAMC STUDIO 
4i 
"ORIGIN OF THE MANUFACTURE OF PORCELAIN 
IN EUROPE" 
[From the introduction of the "Soft Porcelaine of Serves."] 
1 Edouard Gamier 
HINESE porcelain was imported by the Venetians 
from the commencement of the fourteenth 
century and excited general astonishment and 
admiration. Like everything else that came 
from the East, the land of marvels, it was for a 
long time supposed to possess magic virtues, and the substance 
of which it was composed was believed to be produced by 
means bordering on the supernatural. 
" Never has porcelaine " (Porcellana), writes Gui Panciroli, 
the celebrated Italian lawyer, " been seen before; it consists 
of a paste of plaster, eggs, and shells of marine locusts and of 
similar species, which, after being well mixed, is secretly 
hidden in the ground by the father of the family, who then 
acquaints his children with its hiding place. It remains for 
eighty years without seeing light of day, after which the heirs 
remove it, and, finding it in a fit state for manipulation, make 
of it those precious transparent vases so beautiful in form and 
color that architects can find no fault in them ; amongst their 
inestimable virtues is that of breaking should poison be put 
into them. He who buries the substance never removes it 
himself, but leaves it to his children, nephews and heirs, as a 
rich legacy from which they may derive much profit: it is far 
more precious than gold." 
To this widely spread belief in the marvelous, to absurd 
fables of this kind, accepted as truth even by men of highest 
learning, fables which were gravely repeated as late as the 
latter half of the seventeenth century, is probably due that 
lack of success which attended the attempts made at various 
times to manufacture porcelain of a similar nature in Europe. 
The fact that the porcelain of the East was composed of a 
natural product, a kind of white clay (of a peculiar kind, it is 
true, but one that might be found in other countries as well 
as China,) was so little realized that for a long time alchemists 
alone endeavored to discover the secret of its manufacture, 
and vied with one and another in attempts to produce a sub- 
stance similar to porcelain, in imitation of those vases de 
Siiiant which kings alone were able to possess. 
It was only towards the close of the seventeenth century, 
after considerable quantities of Chinese porcelain had been 
imported into Europe, first by the Portuguese, and then by 
the Dutch, that speculation on this subject began to follow a 
more logical, and consequently a truer course. 
Nevertheless, whilst credence was denied to the supernat 
ural properties of this porcelain, a strong belief survived in 
the existence of an earth of an extraordinary nature, which, 
according to scientists, was to be found exclusively in the 
extreme East. 
No manufacturerappears to have thought of searching for 
this earth, and even later, when, in 1709, accident led to the 
discovery of the first beds of kaolin, at Aue, by which Bottger 
was enabled to establish the first manufactory in Europe, in 
which true porcelain was made, this discovery was surrounded 
by a kind of mysterious legend which continued current for a 
long time afterwards. 
This circumstance is, however, hardly to be regretted, for 
it was to the belief so generally entertained that the manufac- 
ture of artificial porcelain, an entirely French invention, owed 
its origin. 
There are two kinds of porcelain : Kaolin, or Hard Por- 
celain, emanating originally from the East, the paste of 
which consists exclusively of Kaolin, a white clay found in 
its natural state in the ground, and which like all clays em- 
ployed in ceramics, is merely ground up, washed, etc. ; and 
Artificial Porcelain, known under the name of Soft Porcelain. 
Deeper research, greater labor, and more scientific knowledge 
were obviously required to discover this latter kind of porce- 
lain than to produce the hard porcelain composed of substances 
employed in the forms in which they occur in nature. It was 
in all probability to Louis Poterat, sieur de Saint-Etienne, a 
potter of Rouen, whose name, though generally so little 
known, deserves a prominent place in the annals of French 
manufacturers, that France owed the discovery of the composi- 
tion of that beautful porcelain which occupies the highest 
position in the history of European ceramics. 
This new porcelain in color of a soft, warm, milky white, 
very translucent, well executed, and carefully and tastefully 
decorated in a style essentially French, or ornamented with 
colored designs in imitation of old Chinese or Japanese ware, 
met with great success at a time when France was producing 
only faiences of a somewhat heavy type, and speedily became 
fashionable. Not for long did Saint Cloud monopolize the 
manufacture of this new ware ; either, as happened a few 
years later in the case of the Meissen (Dresden) porcelain, 
dishonest workmen communicated the secret of its composi- 
to a rival factory, or some clever ceramists sought and found 
in their turn that which others had discovered before them. 
The factory established under the management of Bottger 
found means with the Kaolin discovered in 1709 at Aue, to 
produce true porcelain which more nearly approached the 
Oriental ware than that manufactured in France. The factory 
established at Meissen, developed rapidly and the porcelain 
of Saxony (Dresden porcelain) soon became so fashionable in 
Europe that France, which up to that moment had occupied 
the first place in all industries relating to objects of virtu, 
was constrained to acknowledge the incontestable superiority 
of the Meissen ware. 
[Continued in our next number, when the interesting features and success 
of the Soft Porcelain of Sevres will be fully given.] 
Manufacture Roy ale de la P 
*• ** 
The Grueby pottery is made from designs by Mr. George 
Prentiss Kendrick, who has aimed to use the glazes and 
enamels discovered by Mr. Grueby on forms both useful and 
decorative. It has, in addition to full, rich glazes of great 
brilliancy, a dull or lustreless glaze, which is an enamel not 
produced by acid or sand blast, and which is unique to this 
ware ; old Korean pottery previously possessing it. Mr. 
Grueby has also succeeded in obtaining a remarkable crackle 
which is equal to that- of the best old Chinese and Japanese 
crackles. The glaze is strong and fine, and the crackle does 
not penetrate to the clay. The gamut of color is large ; the 
greens are especially soft and rich, while there are also golden 
yellow and russet. Both in conception and design in color, 
each piece of the Grueby ware is individual and of unusual 
merit, and deserves to take a prominent place among the best 
known wares. — Baltimore News, 
