History of porcelain

 

Oriental porcelains. The Chinese probably made the first true porcelain during the Tang dynasty (618-907). The techniques for combining the proper ingredients and firing the mixture at extremely high temperatures gradually developed out of the manufacture of stoneware. During the Song dynasty (960-1279), Chinese emperors started royal factories to produce porcelain for their palaces. Since the 1300's, most Chinese porcelain has been made in the city of Jingdezhen.

For centuries, the Chinese made the world's finest porcelain. Collectors regard many porcelain bowls and vases produced during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) and Qing dynasty (1644-1912) as artistic treasures. Porcelain makers perfected a famous blue and white underglazed porcelain during the Ming period. Painting over the glaze with enamel colors also became a common decorating technique at this time. During the Qing period, the Chinese developed a great variety of patterns and colors and exported porcelain objects to Europe in increasing numbers.

By the 1100's, the secret of making porcelain had spread to Korea and to Japan in the 1500's. Workers in these countries also created beautiful porcelain objects. A Japanese porcelain called Kakiemon was first produced during the 1600's. It features simple designs on a white background. Another well-known Japanese porcelain called Imari ware, or Arita, is famous for its dense decorations in deep blue and red.

European porcelains. As early as the 1100's, traders brought Chinese porcelain to Europe, where it became greatly admired. However, it was so rare and expensive that only wealthy people could afford it.

As trade with the Orient grew during the 1600's, porcelain became popular with the general public. The custom of drinking tea, coffee, and chocolate became widespread and created a huge demand for porcelain cups and saucers. European manufacturers responded by trying to make hard-paste porcelain themselves, but for a long time they failed to discover the secret. Nevertheless, some of their experiments resulted in beautiful soft-paste porcelain. The first European soft-paste porcelain was produced in Florence, Italy, about 1575. 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.

French porcelains. France became famous during the 1700's as the leading producer of soft-paste porcelain. The first factories were established at Rouen, St. Cloud, Lille, and Chantilly.

The most celebrated type of soft-paste porcelain was first produced at Vincennes in 1738. In 1756, the factory was moved to the town of Sevres. Its soft-paste porcelain became known as Sevres. The earliest Sevres had graceful shapes and soft colors. Sevres pieces produced from 1750 to 1770 were decorated with brilliant colors and heavy gilding. Many of these pieces had richly colored backgrounds and white panels painted with birds, flowers, landscapes, or people. Sevres is also noted for its fine figurines of biscuit (unglazed porcelain).

Beginning in 1771, a hard-paste porcelain industry developed near Limoges, where kaolin deposits had been discovered. By the 1800's, Limoges had become one of the largest porcelain centers in Europe. An American named David Haviland opened a porcelain factory at Limoges in 1842 to make tableware for the American market. Haviland porcelain features soft colors that blend together and small floral patterns.

German porcelains. A German chemist named Johann Friedrich Bottger discovered the secret of making hard-paste porcelain in 1708 or 1709. This discovery led to the establishment of a porcelain factory in Meissen in 1710. Meissen porcelain is sometimes called Dresden because Bottger first worked near the city. For nearly a century, it surpassed in quality all other hard-paste porcelain made in Europe. The great success of Meissen porcelain can be partly attributed to the fine artists who decorated it.

Capodimonte porcelains. The Capodimonte Porcelain Manufacture finds its origin in 1738, the year of the marriage of King Charles to Maria Amalia daughter of the King of Saxony, Augustus III of Poland and granddaughter of Augustus II, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and founder of the first European hard paste porcelain factory in Meissen in 1710.

Charles desired to create a porcelain equal in quality to that which was produced in the Meissen porcelain factory in Germany. The first employees of the factory - located on the hill near to the royal palace of Capodimonte - were Livio Vittorio Schepers, Giovanni Caselli, Livio Gaetano’s son, tasked with the preparation of the porcelain dough; the Florentine sculptor Giuseppe Gricci, who had to mould it, the painter Giuseppe Della Torre, the carver Ambrogio Di Giorgio and a few other workers and apprentices. It took much time and effort to produce the correct formula and drying techniques. Many setbacks were suffered while searching for that perfect formula until finally they discovered deposits of Kaolin in Catanzaro and gave very good results so that the Capodimonte porcelains were considered superior to the French ones.

In 1759, when Philip V of Spain died, Charles then became the King of Spain.He adopted the name of Charles III (1759 -1788). He decided to bring the manufacture and all its workers and artists with him to Madrid, where it stopped its production in 1808. But in Naples the Capodimonte manufacture never stopped its production.

The Royal Manufacture of King Ferdinand

Charles' son Ferdinand (1751-1825) succeeded his father to the Neapolitan throne becoming Ferdinand IV King of Naples (1759-1816) and later as Ferdinand I King of the Two Sicilies (1816-1825). He attempted to establish a new porcelain
factory at Portici in 1771, and then in the Royal Palace of Naples. This was the startup of the Royal Manufacture of King Ferdinand, whose porcelains were marked with a letter “N”, blue in colour and topped by a crown. Its production had three artistic periods: a first period, from 1773 to 1780, under the artistic lead of the painter and sculptor Francesco Celebrano; a second period, from 1780 to 1799 (year of the French invasion), the best period, when all Neapolitan arts flourished and the porcelains triumphed; and a last and third period from 1800 to 1806, the year in which Giuseppe Bonaparte came to Naples and the Royal Manufacture definitely stopped its activities. The French had little interest in Neapolitan porcelain production and they sold the factory and its contents to a group of local businessmen led by Giovanni Poulard-Prad.

In the subsequent decades artists among Naples maintained the Capodimonte tradition alive.

Today, the area surrounding Naples maintained the main flower production, it is around Milan that the tradition  sustained mainly the figurine tradition. A trend developed also in Veneto, between the cities of Vicenza and Bassano.