Hard-paste porcelain, sometimes called "true porcelain", is a ceramic material that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at a very high temperature, usually around 1400 °C. It was first made in China around the 7th or 8th century and has remained the most common type of Chinese porcelain.
Porcelain dish, Chinese Qing, 1644–1911, Hard-paste decorated in underglaze cobalt blue V&A Museum no. 491-1931 Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Section of the letter of François Xavier d'Entrecolles about Chinese porcelain manufacturing techniques, 1712, published by Jean-Baptiste du Halde in 1735.
French porcelain factory, 1771.
Comte de Milly's L'art de la porcelaine, 1771.
Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including kaolinite, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C. The greater strength and translucence of porcelain, relative to other types of pottery, arise mainly from vitrification and the formation of the mineral mullite within the body at these high temperatures. End applications include tableware, decorative ware such as figurines, toilets and washbasins, and products in technology and industry such as electrical insulators and laboratory ware.
Chinese Jingdezhen porcelain moonflask with underglaze blue and red. Qianlong period, 1736 to 1796
A lithophane exploits the translucency of porcelain
Nymphenburg porcelain group modelled by Franz Anton Bustelli, 1756
Soft-paste porcelain swan tureen, 1752–1756, Chelsea porcelain
