Porcelain

Porcelain is a hard, white, often translucent ceramic fired at very high temperatures, and it was invented in China: early forms appeared under the Han dynasty, and true white porcelain was being made by the Tang. Its key ingredients are porcelain stone and kaolin, a white clay named after Gaoling village near Jingdezhen, fired at around 1,300 °C. Under the Song dynasty, kilns across China perfected subtle glazes such as jade-green celadon, and in the Yuan dynasty potters in Jingdezhen began painting in cobalt blue, creating the famous blue-and-white ware. From the Ming dynasty on, an imperial kiln there made porcelain for the court, while huge quantities were shipped to the rest of Asia, the Middle East and Europe. So much reached the West that in English the material itself came to be called simply “china”.