PORCELAIN is a species of the finest earthenware, denominating dishes or vessels of any size or form, semi pellucid, and of a character partaking of the nature of earth and of glass. Porcelain is also designated china ware, because that manufacture was first invented in China, and has attained there, notwithstanding the various attempts made in Europe, to a degree of perfection hither to almost unrivalled. In China this manufacture is named tse-ki, a word peculiar to that country ; and the term por celain, now in common use, except in the cast, is evident ly of European derivation, as the Chinese language re cognises no such sounds. Of the origin and meaning of this modern term, various conflicting conjectures have been made. Nor can the question now be settled. But the most common, and the most satisfactory opinion, seems to be, either that it is derived from the Portuguese porcc lana, a cup, because the Portuguese were the first to in troduce this manufacture into Europe, or is compounded of the French words tour cent annees, because it was er roneously supposed that the materials of which porcelain is composed, required to be matured under ground for a hundred years.
The manufacture of porcelain, as hinted above, was in vented and carried on in China many centuries, it is ascer tained, ere that country was known to Europeans. It is mentioned in the Chinese annals, as an important and ex tensive manufacture, so early as the year 442. The in vention of this art, however, must have taken place long prior to this date, as porcelain was then made of the same materials as at present, and as it had then also arrived at a degree of perfection which no subsequent skill or expe rience has been able to surpass. On the contrary, it is universally helieved in China, that the porcelain-ware of former times was much superior to any of which the pre sent age can boast. This manufacture has been attempt ed in various parts of China, in Quan-tong and Fo-kien; but it has attained to its greatest eminence in King-te telling, a town, or, to use the language of the country, a village in the province of Kiangsi, the place from which the European trade is chiefly supplied, and which has thus the distinction of furnishing the greater part of the world with this elegant and delicate commodity. This art was known, also, at a very remote date, in Japan, and a few other places in the east, in none of which, however, has it rivalled the production of the mighty empire where it was invented. The Portuguese• arc generally allowed to
have been the first that introduced the knowledge of it into Europe ; but at what date has not been ascertained, though, after it was introduCcd, many ages elapsed crc any attempts were made to *rry it into practice. It is not, indeed, much more than a century since porcelain was really manufactured in this quarter of the globe. M. de Botticher, a German chemist, had the honour of being the first in Europe that understood the nature of porcelain manufacture, or rather who invented it. This philosopher, having been thrown into prison on suspicion of being master of the philosopher's stone, continued his experi ments, though in confinement, with inflexible ardour, and thus fabricated, though accidentally, the first porcelain really made in the western world. In making some cru cibles, he found that heat imparted to them the appear ance of porcelain, which, imported from China, was com mon throughout Europe ; and this accidental discovery laid the foundation of that celebrated manufactory at Meis sen, near Dresden, which has produced porcelain of the most beautiful and perfect kind, the best certainly in Eu rope, and reckoned by some not much inferior to any manufactured in China. Botticher, however, (who died in 1719,) understood the art of making white porcelain only, the endless variety of colour of which this ware is susceptible, not having been known for some years after his death. He was succeeded by several eminent philo sophers and manufacturers, particularly M. Rcaumur, who improved upon his discoveries, and contributed to bring the art to very considerable perfection in Europe, and almost to rival, in some respects, the ancient and ce lebrated manufactures of the east. The first European porcelains were made in Saxony. France soon followed the example ; and manufactories of this article were crc long established in England, and in all the principal coun tries in Europe, each of these places possessing some characteristics peculiar to itself, and all differing more or less from the porcelan of China or Japan, yet not reckoned inferior to them in any hopeless degree, either in beauty, lustre, or value.