Sunday, January 25, 2015

Ceramics, pottery, china and porcelain

Ceramics mean  objects such as figures, tiles, and tableware made from clay and other raw materials by the process of pottery. Some ceramic products are regarded as fine art, while others are regarded as decorativeindustrial or applied art objects.They may be made by one individual or in a factory where a group of people design, make and decorate the ware. Decorative ceramics are sometimes called "art pottery".
Most traditional ceramic products were made from clay (or clay mixed with other materials), shaped and subjected to heat, and tableware and decorative ceramics are generally still made this way.

Pottery is the ceramic act of making pottery wares, of which major types include earthenwarestoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of a potter or the manufacture of pottery.
Earthware and stoneware are defined by type of clay used and temprature of kiln used.

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between 1,200 and 1,400 °C (2,200 and 2,600 °F). The toughness, strength, and translucence of porcelain arises mainly from the formation of glass and the mineral mullite within the fired body at these high temperatures.
Porcelain derives its present name from the old Italian porcellana (cowrie shell) because of its resemblance to the translucent surface of the shell. Porcelain can informally be referred to as "china" or "fine china" in some English-speaking countries, as China was the birthplace of porcelain making

Chinese porcelain

The chinese were the first to produce porcelain. The main raw material for porcelain production is Kaolinite.The name is derived from Chinese Kao-Ling vilage.
Exported Chinese porcelains were held in such great esteem in Europe that in the English language china became a commonly–used synonym for the Franco-Italian term porcelain.

 Bone china Although originally developed in England since 1748 to compete with imported porcelain, bone china is now made worldwide.
Bone china uses bone ash as a raw material. Developed by English potter Josiah Spode, bone china is known for its high levels of whiteness and translucency and very high mechanical strength and chip resistance
From its initial development and up to the later part of the twentieth century, bone china was almost exclusively an English product, with production being effectively localised in Stoke-on-Trent
Most major English firms made it, including Mintons,CoalportDavenportRoyal Crown DerbyRoyal DoultonWedgwood and Worcester.
In the UK, references to "china" or "porcelain" can refer to bone china, and "English porcelain" has been used as a term for it, both in the UK and around the world.



No comments:

Post a Comment