PORCELAIN (OF. poreclaine, poreellaine, Fr. poreclaine, from It. porcellana, porcelain, Venus-shell, so called because the highly polished surface suggested that of the Venus-shell, whose curved upper surface resembled a pig's back, from porcella, diminutive of porco, pig, from Lat. porous, swine, hog, pig: connected with LW'. parszas, Ir. ore, 011G. farh, dialectic Ger. Parch, Ger. Perke/, AS. fcarh, Eng. farrow. pig). A peculiar kind of pottery made by the Chinese for many centuries, and in Europe since the discov ery of its ingredients about the year 1710. There was indeed a little porcelain made in Florence at the close of the sixteenth century, but it is prob able that this was made of materials brought from China. Its decoration shows the artistic spirit of the time; but so very little of the ware was made that it never influenced the later de velopment of the manufacture in Europe. The next attempt at making the ware in Europe was by experiments, each separate establishment pro ducing a fine white ware made of some mixture of ingredients peculiar to the establishment in question and often kept secret. These wares re sulted in the manufacture of what is known as soft porcelain, false porcelain, artificial porce lain, and by similar names. In these the copying of the Chinese ware was avowed and some of the announcements were to the effect that at length the true Oriental secret had been covered. The ware was. however, more nearly a glass than a true ceramic ware.
The date of the first manufacture of porcelain in China is not fixed. The earliest piece that can be dated dates from the Sung dynasty be tween 960 and 1368; but all Chinese history and tradition point to a much earlier date even than 960 for the first making of a real porcelain.
Vitreous glazes of the surface and the partial vitrification of the whole mass as described below need not of necessity have characterized the.very early wares which are now assumed to have been porcelanous. The characteristic of Chinese porcelain which has always caused the greatest admiration and the most minute study in Europe, the decoration by means of under-glaze and over-glaze painting, seems not to have been introduced until a time late in the Ming dynasty. Before the fifteenth century tion was carried out very largely in relief or in intaglio, this relief varying from minute pat terns raised by modeling upon the surface while soft to boldly projecting figures, masks, flowers, and the like, molded separately and applied, the adhesive paste causing them to keep their tions until fired. The patterns in intaglio are sometimes very elaborate, and use is made of the color of the glaze filling up these recessed lines and scrolls more deeply than it covers the body of the piece, so that these incised or impressed patterns show in a different color from the rest of the surface. These methods of decoration are not limited to the period in question. but have been kept constantly in use. During these earlier ears (Sung dynasty and the first reigns of the dynasty) decoration by 'solid color' as it is now called. was greatly respected : the forms
of vases and platters were as graceful or as vigor ous and significant as at any subsequent time. and vessels of these refined shapes were invested with color. especially a splendid green which has been hard to procure in later wares—the green which is the true and proper tint, after wards described in Fiance as caudon. Other colors existed. especially yellow. which has always been the Imperial color, though opinions differ as to the proper hue: but. as has been stated by the latest and most accurate European writers, the years before 1367 may be said with out impropriety to constitute the ctqadon period. Of course these dates and attributions are still open to revision.
The reign of the Emperor which is generally given as from 1573 to 1619 A. 31.. is ac cepted as the period of the earliest pieces painted in brilliant colors and existing in Europe in any considerable number. In these the painting is of two kinds: in pure blue on the unbaked body before the glaze has been applied, and in enameled colors applied to the finished and fired piece upon the glaze and fixed by a second firing at a rela tively low temperature. Such pieces are of extreme softness and delicacy; the blue shows through the glaze in an elaborate scheme of outline, much as the etched line in a Libcr Studionna (q.v.)print shows through the mezzotint which was applied afterwards. The more brilliant colors, usually green, yellow, and red, though black is also used in certain pieces, are applied upon and within these outlined spaces and the slight irregularities and imperfections, where the outline is at one moment partly obscured by the enamel color and again left more clearly separated from it. add greatly to the charm of the piece. The fault often found with the richly decorated Chinese porcelain, namely, that the patterns are hard and too strongly relieved from the nearly white ground, is hardly true of these pieces, which are among the most attractive known. This peculiar system has not been abandoned. hut even during the eighteenth century it was followed with great success, and it is possible that some of the pieces so painted are of the nineteenth century. Pieces in pure blue and white are, however. the especial production of the Ming epoch. Nearly all the important blue-and-white 'pieces which bring enormous prices in Europe. and especially in England, where 'blue china' was the particular fad of the years between 1S70 and 1S90. are as sumed to be of the Ming dynasty. although it is quite well understood by more careful students that but few of such early pieces exist in Europe. and that those few are generally so placed and so held that they can never come into the market. Such are not merely the pieces in national lections, but also some in private hands and identified during many years by their having been mounted in European silver or silver-gilt, with feet. covers, tips to spouts, and the like. the plate marks on the silver fixing the date of this work beyond any question.