Although Cornish clay was introduced into the Staffordshire pot teries, the manufacture of hard porcelain is said to have been restricted to Plemouth and Bristol, and only flourished there for a short period. Towards the close of the last century, felspar was first introduced into the Staffordshire ware by Spode. Bones or phosphate of lime were first used about 1500, and made an important change in the manufac ture of soft porcelain.
At. Lambeth, the site of early pottery, delftware continued to be made till recently, and stoneware is still made at Lambeth and Vaux hall; potteries also existed at Fulham, Bristol, and Leeds, in the 1Sth century, and st Liverpool from 1674 chiefly of delftware, where, in 1753, Sadler and Green first employed printing upon pottery ; and Chaffers here established a manufactory of white earthenware ; and another potter, Pennington, in 1760, produced a very successful blue colour, and Imitations of oriental vases. The principal pottery here in later times was the Herculaneum, established in 1794, and continued until 1811, which produced China of a peculiar character, and stamped with the name of the manufactory. At Lowestoft' a pottery was com menced in 1757, but abandoned forty years afterwards ; and another existed at Nottingham in 1641 ; and at Sackfield a pottery was esta blished for stoneware in 1713, but ceased about 1800; and an obscure potter was set up by one ('lace, at York.
Similar to pottery, but technically distinguished from it by its un changeability under extreme temperatures, its translucency, and its superior hardness, is the material called Porcelain. The term is of uncertain derivation. The material, invented by the Chinese, consists of kaolin or alumina, and pih-tun-tze or silex, which according to the proportion in which they are mixed form a hard or soft porcelain. It was invented at Sinping in China, in the time of the Ilan dynasty, between ac. 155.88, made considerable progress in the 3rd century, ass under the Wei, and a blue kind was made at Tunggaou in the province of Chekeang, under the Tsin, who commenced A.D. 265, and continued till A.D. 419; subsequently under the Chin, A.D. 5S3, the celebrated potteries of Kingtechin made porcelain for the imperial court. The colour varied according to the dynasties, blue, green, and whito in tunes prevailing. Porcelain was also manufactured in A.D. 954 in Henan, in A.D. 960-1279 in Soochow, and in the city of Tingchow in l'ibchele. Crackle porcelain was first made at Soochow, and the other localities produced different colours and patterns ; but the prin cipal site was Kingtechin, which, commencing in A.D. 581, has continued till the present day. In A.D. 1506, foreign cobalt was introduced, and about 1573, the delicate eggshell-ware was invented.
Marks are found upon Chinese pottery, sometimes animals or objects, at others inscriptions, principally imitations of seals stamped upon books in vermilion or blue with seal characters. The oldest date known is that of Hungwoo, A.D. 1368, and the practice has continued till the present time. The principal varieties of Chinese porcelain known to Europe are the pure white, the blue and white, or Nankin, the Soumall blue, the Celadon green, the marbled or shot, the citron or imperial ware, the ruby blue or brown. Besides porcelain,
the Chinese extensively manufacture and use a terra-cotta, and unglazed and enamelled earthenware. The manufacture of porcelain was introduced into Japan, B.C. 27, and the potteries are situated at Imari in Eisen, and at Firose. The porcelain is whiter, of better quality and style than the Chinese : but in other oriental countries it appears doubtful whether hard porcelain was known. As early as the Sth century, the Chinese carried their wares to the coast of Arabia, and in A.D. 1154, porcelain is mentioned by Edrisi. In the 18th century, Marco Polo describes the manufacture, and in the subsequent centuries it was exported to Barbary and Florence, but the first regular importa tion was by the Portuguese in 1518, and an extensive trade was carried on by the Venetians, Dutch, and English. Its first appearance in this country was A.D. 1504. The passion for collecting China appeared in Europe at an early period of the 16th and 18th centuries : Charles V. in 1541, presenting a set to 'Maurice of Saxony ; Louis XI V. ordering services of porcelain from China; Nary the wife of William III. of England collecting China ; and Frederick Augustus of Saxony in 1717 founding the collection of the Griino Gewolbe at Dresden. In England the passion still continues, immense prices being given for fine speci mens of ancient Chinese porcelain. Two hundred years after the importation of porcelain, Botteher of Berlin, in 1715, produced a per fect white porcelain at Meissen, near Dresden, in the reign of Augustus II.; his first attempts produced a red stoneware like jasper, or with a glazing of brilliant colours, and Chinese patterns ; but under sub sequent management, Horohlt in 1720, and Kandler, a sculptor, in 1731-56, improved the paintings and shapes ; grotesque modelled figures and onraments in the floral and rococo style were extensively manufactured. The art, although guarded with jealous care, was soon carried over Germany ; a foreman of the Meissen establishment, fled with his secret to Vienna in 1720, and established a fabric which differs in glaze and thickness from Dresden. Other manufactures were set up in Bohemia, and in Hungary ; Jangler, a workman of the Vienna factory, carried the secret in 1740 to I Iiichst, near Mayence ; and the establishment ciao to repute under Melchior, a modeller. Busch, a Saxon, established it at Keltersbach ; in 1750 Bongraf, a IlOchnt workman, worked for the Duke of Brunswick at Fiinsten burg ; Ringler also set up a manufactory in 1755, at Frankenthal, which continued until 1800; and lesser establishments arose at Nymphenburg, and Baden, and Ludwigsbnrg. At Berlin a private establishment, set up in 1751, was subsequently purchased by Frederick the Great, and attained an excellence and eminence which it still retains. Other porcelain manufactories also flourished in Hesse and Thuringia ; and were also Introduced Into Russia by the Empress Elizabeth, in 1751, at Twer and Korsee. In Holland, at Amsterdam and the lingua, and at Arnheim, unsuccessful attempts to manufacture porcelain profitably were made ; and at Copenhagen, at Zurich, and at Nyon on the Lake of Geneva, with better success.