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Antique Pair of Meissen Blue and White Porcelain Urns
A Pair of Meissen Blue and White Porcelain Covered Urns in the "Onion" Pattern, with blue underglaze and incised marks, H:15 3/4" Hard-paste porcelain is a hard, dense ceramic that was originally made from a compound of the feldspathic rock petuntse and kaolin fired at very high temperature. It was first made in China around the 9th century.
The secret of its manufacture was not known in Europe until 1709, when Böttger of Meissen, Germany discovered the formula. Despite attempts to keep it secret, the process spread to other German ceramic factories and eventually became known throughout Europe.
Hard-paste porcelain can be fired at a range of temperatures to create many different end results. Depending on the firing method, hard-paste porcelain can resemble stoneware or earthenware. But most of the time, it is not necessary to use hard-paste porcelain for these lower temperature ceramics. Hard-paste porcelain can be utilized to make porcelain bisque, a hard crystalline material fired at very high temperatures in a pressure controlled environment
There are three main kinds of porcelain: (1) hard-paste porcelain, (2) soft-paste porcelain, and (3) bone china. The differences between these types of porcelain are based on the material from which they are made. This material is called the body or paste.
Hard-paste porcelain, which is sometimes called true porcelain or natural porcelain, has always been the model and ideal of porcelain makers. It is the type of porcelain first developed by the Chinese from kaolin and petuntse. Hard-paste porcelain resists melting far better than other kinds of porcelain. For this reason, it can be fired at higher temperatures. These hot temperatures cause the body and the glaze to become one. When hard-paste porcelain is broken, it is impossible to distinguish the body from the glaze. A piece of porcelain is shaped on a potter's wheel or in a mold. After this stage, the porcelain worker may decorate it by (1) surface modifications, (2) painting, or (3) transfer printing.
Soft-paste porcelain, sometimes called artificial porcelain, was developed in Europe in an attempt to imitate Chinese hard-paste porcelain. Experimenters used a wide variety of materials in their efforts to produce a substance that was hard, white, and translucent. They eventually developed soft-paste porcelain by using mixtures of fine clay and glasslike substances. These materials melt at the high temperatures used in making hard-paste porcelain. For this reason, soft-paste porcelain is fired at lower temperatures and does not completely vitrify--that is, it remains somewhat porous. Breaking a piece of soft-paste porcelain reveals a grainy body covered with a glassy layer of glaze.
Bone china is basically made by adding bone ash (burned animal bones) to kaolin and petuntse. English porcelain makers discovered this combination of ingredients about 1750, and England still produces nearly all the world's bone china. Though not as hard as true porcelain, bone china is more durable than soft-paste porcelain. The bone ash greatly increases the translucence of the porcelain.
A piece of porcelain is shaped on a potter's wheel or in a mold. After this stage, the porcelain worker may decorate it by (1) surface modifications, (2) painting, or (3) transfer printing.
Surface modifications are achieved by incising (carving), perforating (poking holes), and embossing (applying raised designs). A well-known method of embossing porcelain is to apply a mixture of water and clay, called slip, to the item with a brush. Relief designs (three-dimensional effects) are usually molded separately and then attached to the porcelain.
By the 1700's, porcelain manufactured in many parts of Europe was starting to compete with Chinese porcelain. France, Germany, Italy, and England became the major centers for European porcelain production.
Although most 18th English porcelain was soft paste, some hard paste porcelain was being made by the late 1760s and could be found on late 18th century sites. Hard paste porcelain was manufactured on the Continent, for example at the Meissen factory in France, from the early 1700s, but little was imported into the colonies until the end of the 18th century or early 19th century
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