Even people far from history know that there is a very close relationship between the words "china" and "China." It was in this country for the first time that they learned to make subtle and elegant things from ordinary clay.
Chinese porcelain was invented in the 6th-7th centuries, although scholars from China say this event happened 400 years earlier. A variety of clay products were indeed made long before the invention of porcelain, but it was in the 6th and 7th centuries that craftsmen learned how to improve products by distinguishing their fineness and unusual whiteness from their predecessors. As a result, Chinese porcelain has become the most carefully guarded secret of the Celestial Empire. Porcelain dishes, of course, were sold to foreigners, but the production technology remained a state secret, and the disclosure of its secrets was punishable by
death.The flourishing of porcelain production in China came in the 15th-16th centuries, when manufacturing technology reached the highest degree of perfection. And it was at this time that Chinese porcelain appeared in European countries, where sailors and merchants from Portugal brought it. Porcelain products could only be afforded to rich people, not without reason the word "porcelain" means "imperial". And in our time, far from poor people can afford Chinese porcelain of modern production - one medium-sized vase costs from three hundred dollars. But connoisseurs are willing to pay more substantial amounts. Indeed, porcelain vases, jugs and cups are not just dishes, but works of art.
Chinese porcelain is traditionally coated with glaze of different shades and degrees of transparency, which allows you to give the surface a special matte shine. At the same time, different paints were used in different historical periods, so connoisseurs and experts distinguish porcelain products of the "green", "blue" and "pink" families. It is noteworthy that the Chinese painting craftsmen specialized in any one type of ornament - for example, clear lines and contours, landscapes, faces. Therefore, one product was painted by several people. And if you recall that for the manufacture of any object it was necessary to find and sort the clay, wash it, make the dishes and burn, it turns out that several hundred people could work on one product.
The peak of craftsmanship was Chinese bone china, which is particularly whitish and so subtle that it literally shines through. The secret of this porcelain is to add 50 percent bone ash to substances that are commonly used to make porcelain - such as kaolin and quartz.
It is interesting that after the formation of the PRC, the government of the country began to restore old and destroyed porcelain factories, while actively attracting famous masters to the work. In addition, work is underway to restore the old ways of firing and lost recipes for dyes, so that modern Chinese porcelain is fully consistent with old traditions.