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China With a Lower Case "c"
By Robert Forst

Whether you call it china, porcelain ceramics, bone china, Delftware, Royal Doulton or any one of many famous names, china in all its manifestations is coveted all over the world. The simplest reason of all for the high value of great china is that it beats paper plates every time. Whether you're talking about China, Japan, Europe, the United States, South America, or just about any area on earth, porcelain art is alwaysin demand.

Evolving first from a need for some sort of vessel to hold liquids, ceramics - the name given by Europeans to hard china - is synonymous with porcelains, sometimes called the "Queen of the Clays." In other words what is done with clay has a lot to do with the production of ceramics/porcelains. Kaolin, feldspar, and quartz provideraw materials.

China has been with us a long time, originating possibly with cave dwellers who made clay vessels in Turkey around 7000 BC. A century or so later painted pottery began to appear in Persia, Mesopotamia, and Anatolia; Egyptian potters began to make pots for liquids by putting them in ovens in 5000 BC. The vertical kiln came along about a thousand years later, making it easier to control the temperature and to produce something resembling ausable pot.

The famous potter's wheel appeared around 3000 BC, about the same time that potters learned about firing and glazing their wares. The Egyptians were fully capable of making a fantastic turquoise-blue glaze by 1900 BC and, in quick succession, glazes in yellow, purple, green, red, andblack.

Cyprus was the next center of interest in the history of china. The then Cypriots learned how to make hand-formed, highly ornamented pieces that were almost as hard as metal between 1600 BC and 1050 BC. And China itself made fine stoneware with properties similar to today's, albeit gray in color. It isknown as proto-porcelain.

Along with the gold and jewels they brought back from their Egyptian invasions, the Romans also took artisans as slaves to produce pottery for them. By 100 AD these artisans were producing green and yellow-glazed ware in what is now France and northern Italy; by 200 AD glazed-ware had reached the Rhineland.

Somewhere in this time frame "archanists" entered upon the scene. An archanist is a person who is said to possess a secret; factories or governments involved in making pottery wanted their own archanists. An archanist was charged with making pottery better than the competition and with leading his factory to primacy inpottery making.

Meanwhile, back in China, around 500 AD, tea was planted around Nanking by a man named Tamo. What matters is not the man's name but the crop he planted - tea created a demand for tea pots - hard, fine glazed china - and during the Tang Dynasty (518 AD) the Chinese began making hard porcelain. Their archanists were so good at keeping secrets that the Chinese remained the masters and sole producers of hard porcelain in the world, which explains why "hard porcelain" and "china" aresynonymous.

Although Japanese potters went to China to try to learn the art, it would be another 400 years before Japan produced hard porcelain. Soon others began to produce hard porcelain - Spain, Italy, other countries in Europe - each competing to find different clays and unique ways to glaze objects, to fire them, and to produce beautifulpieces.

Chinese politics were so complex and governments so fragile that the imperial factory for porcelains wasn't put back into working order until 1681 but by 1865 the era of china in China was over. Today, however, the art of china production in China has been restored with the aid of artist/teachers from the U.S. who have trained Chinese painters in their nearly lost nativeart.

The art of making china in Europe has been disrupted on occasion in one country or another but has never been entirely curtailed for very long. European ruling families throughout the centuries wanted to own the best and their sponsored factories still bear their names (e.g., Royal Doulton, Royal Delft). Decoration associated with a particular factory has also achieved fame in the world of porcelain - e.g., Meissen and Dresden. Delftware, produced by the Dutch, has been with ussince the 1400's.

Factories backed by kings, ruling families, or wealthy merchants have become famous and, believe it or not, have been fought over as "spoils of war." The famous brand Capodimonte is one ofthese.

Over the past 150 years decorative porcelain has become far more accessible to people other than the very wealthy. Pieces from companies like Capodimonte have become collectors items all over the world. Capodimonte floral and fruit centerpieces, floral petals, lamps, figurines and a multiplicity of other porcelain pieces are collected and handed down from generationto generation.

Other factories, once sponsored by noble or private interests, include such luminous names as Limoges, Rosenthal, Heuthenruter, and Pirkenhammer.

At the Global Connoisseur (www.theglobalconnoisseur.com) we take great pride in offering a lovely and wide range of Capodimonte porcelains. Anyone who has seen the delicacy of their floral petals, the almost edible quality of their fruit baskets, not to mention the almost aromatic Capodimonte floral displays will want them as adornments in their own homes or as gifts to specials friends. Capodimonte spaghetti lamps are so-called because of the fine strands that composetheir shades.

China (as "china" with a lower-case "c"}has circled the globe and brought great beauty to our homes as porcelain creations of inspired artisans. Whether Capodimonte or any of the other great names in porcelain, we are the richer for their accessibility in enriching ourlives.

Robert D. Forst is an avid art, opera, and classical music enthusiast who has lived and worked all over the world, alway attempting to acquire an informed taste in art, ceramics, crystal, and paintings. He hopes these interests are reflected in his and his wife's e-commerce store. He enjoys sharing his knowledge and taste as a half-owner (along with Nhora Lucia, his wife of 28 years) of http://www.theglobalconnoisseur.com - a site that offers discriminating clients information concerning a wide range of original oil paintings and watercolors, distinctive Romanian Crystal, Limited Edition Romanian Vases, one-of-a-kind hand-painted ceramic vases and boxes, extraordinary Capodimonte porcelains, and a great deal more. We invite potential clients, as well as buyers, to visit our site and to submit questions to us about our productswhenever they wish.

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