Chinese Porcelain
What makes Chinese porcelain so special?
Chinese porcelain is the benchmark for quality: it is recognized as the best in the world.
Its unique properties are due to the complex composition. Nature is favorable to China – all the materials required for making ceramics can be found there. The Chinese refined their technologies over centuries, including the manual work, important both for manufacturing the pieces and preparing the materials. Their technique allows to perfectly purify the mass, which results in the unique qualities of products. The most perfect clay material is obtained by “maturation”, in some cases it takes from 1 to 10 years to mature the mass. There are centers where the mass has been matured for 100 years!
The oldest and the leading porcelain manufacturer outside of China was Meissen, the brand of German porcelain. Its name comes from the Saxon city of Meissen, where porcelain was first produced in Europe 300 years ago.
The history of porcelain manufacture in China is said to date back over 2 000 years but the development of ceramics in China began in the Neolithic period. The materials used for making so-called proto-porcelain were china clay or kaolin. Proto-porcelain first appeared in China during the Han dynasty (206 - 221 AD). Chinese ceramics began to flourish during the period of the Tang dynasty (618 - 906 AD).
Until now, China is considered to be the largest center of porcelain production, even the English word “china” implies both country and porcelain.
Why porcelain is the best for tea?
Tea is considered as the national “treasure” of China because of its special properties, which connect it with medicinal practice and some religious traditions. In Buddhism, for example, tea is an essential element of meditative practices, in Taoism – it is one of the components of the immortality potion. Tea was also an important part of the court circles and originally it was only accessible to members of the imperial family.
Tea has many specific properties and it always requires certain attention and approach at all stages of production, brewing, and storage. And in this sense, the choice of the material for the teaware becomes vitally important. As an example, the history of tea in China is closely connected with the history of porcelain, which became its perfect match. As a result of centuries-old searches and continuous improvement of technologies, the Chinese ceramists have developed a complex recipe for porcelain making.
Porcelain is an exquisite material. It is ideal for brewing, drinking and storing tea due to its properties. For centuries, the best teaware for drinking were porcelain vessels, helping the virtues of tea to open up in a complete way.
Every tea tool has a profound influence on the flavor and aroma of finished tea.
So, unlike any other materials including the modern ones, porcelain does not deform the taste of the product. Metals or plastic can toxify a hot drink, glass is fragile and it heats up easily and cools down quickly.
Meanwhile, porcelain activates the healing properties of tea because it retains heat for a long time and thus enhances its effect. The other good thing is that a porcelain piece manufactured in a traditional way should not burn your hands because it doesn’t get that hot from the outside.
When choosing a teaware do not forget about the dishes designed for storing tea: the best teapots for storing tea are also made of porcelain.
Chinese porcelain is a Great and True porcelain
The cost of European porcelain is determined rather by its aesthetic qualities, as the products of leading European porcelain manufactures are significantly worse in quality than the best samples of Chinese porcelain.
True porcelain has only two components: a porcelain stone and kaolin with no additives. That is why the Chinese porcelain is so highly valued - it is made of natural materials and it carries powerful positive energy. This porcelain is full of life, it is a great source of light, warm and good energy, and it’s magnetic. Trust your feelings. In order to create such a piece of porcelain, you would need the kaolin together with the Chinese spirit.
To compare: Bone china carries the energy of burnt animal bones. Without any doubt, it is nice and lightweight, but it doesn’t have a life. This material will not make you want to hold it in your hands.
Chinese porcelain holds its value over time
In Arabic porcelain means “imperial”. The merchants used this word to call the products of the imperial porcelain factory in Jingdezhen which is now considered as the capital of world porcelain production. In the late 17th century, “porcelain fever” broke out in Europe and the other name for porcelain was “white gold”. The monarchs were consumed by the passion to collect the Chinese porcelain pieces and spent fortunes in pursuit of the white gold. The Polish King Augustus the Strong acquired a few vases from King Frederick William I in exchange for a regiment of dragoons (600 professionally trained soldiers).
If you want to buy high-quality genuine porcelain, you should choose products created for the domestic market of China, such objects are hard to find outside of the country.
And therefore it is much easier to acquire them with the help of special enthusiasts who search for the real gems in the deepest parts of China.
Porcelain as a part of the spiritual culture of China
and as an element of the high society life;
and as a part of the religious and practical sphere, primarily - the Feng Shui system (which places emphasis on the color and shape of products);
and in artistic culture, as the porcelain painting, in some cases is more valuable than porcelain itself, because it often reproduces art and calligraphy masterpieces, which have not reached our days. In China, one of the ways to preserve the cultural monuments was to copy them, so porcelain products with reproductions of the relics of the past became timeless and quickly turned into collectible objects. They represent the encyclopedia of national culture.
How to choose Chinese porcelain
It’s not easy to choose porcelain as it may seem.
In order to select the genuine Chinese porcelain please follow these rules:
Listen to Porcelain. It has its own sound - clear and sonorous. When you buy a porcelain piece, gently tap its edges with a wooden stick and you will hear a clear, long-lasting sound. This is the melody of the true porcelain.
Look at Porcelain. High-quality porcelain has a white or biscuit (milky) color. This is the distinctive feature of the more expensive kinds of porcelain. Gray shades of porcelain products can indicate that the manufacturer saved money on the materials. Keep it in mind that porcelain is a thin and translucent material. If you bring a porcelain plate to a source of light and put your hand on it, you will be able to see your palm. At the same time, porcelain is durable and resistant to temperatures.
Touch Porcelain. The smooth surface is the main characteristic of good quality. The surface should be flat, without any cracks, chips, scratches, blisters or bumps.
High-quality porcelain will never be fully decorated. Any plate, saucer, cup, a salad bowl, or even a vase created by well-known manufacturers, always has a remaining spot that is not covered with a colored glaze or a pattern. This helps a buyer to evaluate the pure color and the ideal surface of the product. When you purchase a porcelain-made object, make sure that its geometric shape is proportionate. Place the product on the table and check if its bottom is fully in contact with the surface, without any left space.
Here is the brief list of tips to identify the fine Chinese porcelain:
Sound
Tap the product gently with a wooden stick. The true thing should “sing” with a clear and bell-like “voice”.
Color
Bring the piece to a bright light source and carefully inspect it. It has a large number of impurities (quartz, kaolin, and others), so the real Chinese porcelain has a milky or white color and the thin layer is slightly translucent. The copies of poor quality do not allow light to show through them. High-quality porcelain is very thin yet strong with great resistance to extremely high temperatures. The greyish shades of porcelain, more than likely indicate that the manufacturer saved on materials and did not follow the true recipe.
Texture
Touch the piece. It should have zero porosity with no chips, nor blisters, nor cracks. It should have a perfectly smooth surface.
Decoration
Modern manufacturers offer a wide range of porcelain products. They are different in shape and patterns. High-quality porcelain pieces are not always fully decorated, they always have space free of drawing and patterns. This is done intentionally, so a buyer can assess the quality of the product by its smooth texture and clear colors. Therefore, if you are offered a fully decorated vase, then this is very likely a fake copy.
Shape
Fine porcelain products have proportionate shape. They have a perfectly flat bottom, so if you put it on a flat surface, the base will touch the surface with no gaps in between the surface and the bottom.
Weight
Fine Chinese porcelain is very lightweight, thanks to its chemical composition. Therefore, if the product is heavy, then it is fake.
Heating
If you have already bought the product, you can test its authenticity by heating. Pour hot water into it. A quality thing does not heat up, so it will not burn your hands. If you constantly drink tea from a cup, with time it becomes stained, but high-quality porcelain does not change its initial color.
Follow these simple tips to find true pieces of art.
Centers for production of the best porcelain in China
Just like the high-quality tea, there are also high-end varieties of porcelain, produced in the leading ceramic centers of the country. Each traditional center in China is located next to the deposits of certain materials, which are mixed in specific and unique recipes. Each recipe results in the unique properties of porcelain products and justifies the high costs of the pieces. We would like to highlight some of the most famous manufacturing centers:
Jingdezhen Porcelain
Fujian Porcelain
Taiwan Porcelain
Longquan Сeladon or Longquan Green Porcelain
