You might associate porcelain with your grandmother’s treasured fine china cabinet but never understood why she was so in love with those shiny mugs and saucers. Why would anyone pay so much for a porcelain dinnerware collection?
Nearly synonymous with high-brow dining, porcelain is one of the best dinnerware materials. It’s sturdy even when razor thin, and it gives off a glow from within, unlike any other ceramics.
In fact, white porcelain has been prized for generations: from its first inception, to its imitators and now to modern artists that produce beautiful dishes with time-honored techniques.
To understand what makes fine porcelain dinnerware so special, we’ll take you through its history and show you how those china dishes became prized heirlooms.
The Ancient Chinese Art of Porcelain
Sensibly, the history of fine china begins in China. Primitive forms of Chinese porcelain have been identified dating back millennia. The technique evolved over the centuries, and by the end of the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368 AD), the material had become what we recognize today as porcelain.
Chinese porcelain is known as hard paste porcelain or “true” porcelain. It was made of a white clay called kaolin, and petuntse, a volcanic rock consisting mostly of the mineral feldspar, and was then fired at unusually high temperatures.
Through a process called vitrification, the petuntse would become glassy and create a hard, shiny surface. Unlike previous earthenware pieces that absorbed liquids, this process created ceramic that was nonporous and sometimes even translucent.
Porcelain’s Journey to Europe
Porcelain was reportedly brought to Europe by Marco Polo in the 14th century. This Italian connection may be where the material got its current name—porcellana is an Italian word that refers to the smooth, cowry shell.
What we know for sure is that by the 15th and 16th centuries, fine porcelain goods were in high demand across Europe. The material was considered exotic. An inability to reproduce it domestically meant that it carried a hefty price tag, causing it to become a status symbol.
Around 1575, a reasonable facsimile was developed in Florence. This type of porcelain is known as “soft-paste.” It’s material had a resemblance to true porcelain but lacked the same strength.
Soft-paste porcelain slowly grew in popularity until Europe finally discovered what China had learned all those centuries ago: the formula for true porcelain.
German potters encountered the correct formula and ratio in 1707. Domestically-made porcelain exploded onto the market into products like:
- Dishware
- Dinnerware
- Vases
- Mugs
- Tea sets
- Bowls
- Custom-painted pieces
What Makes Porcelain So Valuable
So why is a porcelain dinnerware collection so expensive? What’s so hard about making it? While not all porcelain is bank-breaking, an examination of the process justifies more luxurious price tags. Here are a few reasons that porcelain can be such a valuable item:
#1 Porcelain Uses Rare Ingredients
So what is porcelain made of? Just as it was in ancient China, true porcelain can only be made with kaolin. While it can be found all over the world, large deposits are hard to come by. This special clay is what gives porcelain its white color—the purer the kaolin, the whiter the porcelain. Any kaolin that has been stained with other minerals must first be washed to remove impurities.
The addition of water gives kaolin its moldability. While ceramics can be produced using only pure kaolin, most porcelains contain other minerals, such as the volcanic feldspar used in ancient China.
#2 Porcelain Requires Delicate Sculpting
Porcelain clay itself can be difficult to work with. Due to its strength, porcelain items are usually thinner than other ceramics, displaying even the most minor of flaws.
One porcelain workshop in Japan reports that the hand production of a single piece can take over a month, even with a number of skilled artisans at work. The careful time porcelain requires makes it that much more treasurable as an everyday use dinner plate.
#3 Porcelain Needs Extreme Heat
True porcelain bakes at a temperature of about 2,650° F, much higher than most ceramics.
Porcelain must bake at an extremely high temperature to result in:
- A thin shell that doesn’t crack under pressure
- A beautifully delicate, yet deceptively strong piece
- A material resilient to oven heat and high temperatures
- A non-porous foundation that is easily washable
Porcelain items must be sculpted to exact specifications to prevent this from happening. If made correctly, the resulting piece becomes beautifully delicate yet deceptively strong, with a characteristic luminescent glow.
#4 Porcelain Is Fine Art
As porcelain is nonporous, they make the perfect, smooth canvas for custom paintings. An antique printed design can display the material’s journey, ranging from pastoral scenes to Chinese settings to the popular floral motifs.
The traditional blue glaze also has historical origins. Before modern pigments, cobalt blue was one of the only colors that would stay bright through the firing process.
Porcelain that is hand-painted can be exceptionally beautiful and is created through a tedious process of designing patterns and careful glazing with a tiny brush. Custom designs can cost hundreds of dollars or more, depending on the size of the ceramic dinnerware set piece and the intricacy of the design.
Ancient Tradition Meet Modern Value with Lenox Porcelain
Arts with centuries of heritage deserve to have their story told and treasured for decades more. Porcelain’s durability means it can remain in your family for generations, adding another chapter to its rich history.
At Lenox, we know a thing or two about heritage. We’ve been around for over 130 years, providing beautiful heirlooms to families like yours. We support the belief that modern design and valued traditions can go hand in hand, and we’ve proven it by staying at the forefront of innovation without sacrificing quality.
For porcelain pieces and dinnerware sets that you’ll treasure for years to come, Lenox is there. Become part of the story of porcelain today—and discover that your Grandma was right all along.
