You Are Here: History - Porcelain to Europe
How did Europeans get to make porcelain?
Europeans pottery manufacturers were desperate to discover how to make this exotic and highly sought after pottery. A great deal of time and energy was spent in trying to replicate the unique properties of Chinese porcelain.
Augustus the Strong (so named because of his large number of progeny, all but one of whom were produced by his equally large number of mistresses) Elector of Saxony employed a German mathematician and philosopher together with an alchemist to crack the secrets of Chinese porcelain. The work of these two unlikely collaborators gave rise to the first European copy of porcelain and subsequently in 1710 the establishment of the famous porcelain factory at Meissen.
However this was not the real thing and it was not until the Chinese porcelain secrets were published by a Jesuit priest in 1735 that the European manufacturers could hope to approach the excellence of the Chinese porcelain.
What happened next?
An interesting development in England was the formulation of bone china. This attempted to replicate Chinese porcelain by using bone ash as a major additive to the clay. Much of the development of bone china was carried out by Josiah Spode who became a successful manufacturer along with other fine brands such as Wedgewood and Royal Worcester.
Porcelain was now popular throughout Europe and fine porcelain factories were set up in a number of French towns and cities such as Sèvres and Limoges. The production of European porcelain reduced the imports from China but many still felt that the skill of the Chinese coupled with their centuries of manufacturing experience still gave them the edge over their upstart European rivals!
