Ceramics, Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating selected and refined materials, often including clay in the form of kaolinite, to high temperatures. more...

Home
Antiquities (Classical,...
Architectural & Garden
Asian Antiques
Books & Manuscripts
Decorative Arts
African (37945)
Ceramics, Porcelain
Bowls (63522)
Boxes (63523)
Creamers, Sugar Bowls...
Cups, Saucers (63525)
Figurines (63526)
Jars (63527)
Jugs, Pitchers (63528)
Mugs, Tankards (63529)
Other (2203)
Planters, Vases (63530)
Plates, Chargers (63531)
Platters, Trays (63532)
Salt, Pepper Shakers (63533)
Teapots, Sets (63534)
Tiles (63535)
Tureens (63536)
Clocks (63537)
Ethnographic (2207)
Glass (63538)
Lamps (63547)
Latin American (4170)
Metalware
Mirrors (20089)
Native American (4173)
Other (2204)
Other (73467)
Pacific Rim (4172)
Picture Frames (40024)
Toleware (1218)
Woodenware (37941)
Furniture
Maps, Atlases, Globes
Maritime
Militaria
Musical Instruments
Primitives
Rugs, Carpets
Silver
Textiles, Linens

The raw materials for porcelain, when mixed with water, form a plastic body that can be worked to a required shape before firing in a kiln at temperatures between 1200°C and 1400°C. The toughness, strength, and translucence of porcelain arise mainly from the formation at high temperatures of glass and the mineral mullite within the fired body.

Porcelain was named after its resemblance to the white, shiny cowry, called in old Italian porcella (little pig), because the curved shape of its upper surface resembles the curve of a pig's back. Properties associated with porcelain include low permeability, high strength, hardness, glassiness, high durability, whiteness, translucence, resonance, brittleness, high resistance to the passage of electricity, high resistance to chemical attack, high resistance to thermal shock and high elasticity.

For the purposes of trade, the Combined Nomenclature of the European Communities defines porcelain as being "completely vitrified, hard, impermeable (even before glazing), white or artificially coloured, translucent (except when of considerable thickness) and resonant." However, the term porcelain lacks a universally agreed definition and has "been applied in a very unsystematic fashion to substances of diverse kinds which have only certain surface-qualities in common" (Burton 1906).

Porcelain is used to make table, kitchen, sanitary and decorative wares, objects of fine art and tiles. Its high resistance to the passage of electricity makes porcelain an excellent insulating material and it is widely used for high-voltage insulators. It is also used in dentistry to make false teeth, caps and crowns.

Scope, materials and methods

Scope

Porcelain has many uses but this article is concerned mainly with its employment as a material used to make objects of craft and fine art, including decorative and utilitarian household wares. A difficult line to draw is that which divides high-fired stoneware from porcelain because this depends upon how the terms porcelain and stoneware are defined. In this article the term porcelain is taken to encompass a broad range of high-fired ceramic wares, including some that might according to some systems of classification fall into the category of stoneware.

Materials

Further information: Pottery

The material used to form the body of porcelain wares is often referred to as clay, even though clay minerals might account for only a small proportion of its whole. The porcelain clay body, unfired or fired, is sometimes spoken of as the paste and porcelain clay is itself sometimes described as the body (for example, when buying materials a potter might order such an amount of porcelain body from a vendor).

Read more at Wikipedia.org