China-ware,Porcelain
Posted on July 29, 2008 - Filed Under Porcelain, Ceramic Plaza&Trade |
China-ware or bone-China or porcelain or Chinese ceramics has developed in the form of a fine art ever since the rule of the dynasties. During the Paleolithic era, which is about 11,000 years ago, a few of the initial types were produced. Chinese Ceramics can be put to a wide range of uses starting from the use in the construction materials as bricks and tiles to hand-made pottery vessels baked in bonfires or kilns to the finely crafted porcelain wares or China sets initially created for the royalty. Porcelain as understood by the Chinese is used to mean a wide variety of ceramics, which have been fired on high heat. Some of these may not be identified as porcelain, as understood by the Western countries. The reason being that they are generally ‘green-fired’ or ‘once-fired’, meaning that the body is baked and at the same time the glaze on the outer surface is also produced. After a single unit is made and a proper finishing is given to it, it goes through the following steps:
1)It is dried. 2)Then the outer surface is glazed. 3)It is again dried. 4)Finally it is fired again to give it a hard finish. In the hot kiln the body and the glaze blend with each other to give a uniform effect. Chinese enameled wares are produced similarly, but the enamels are added at the second stage. Then the pieces are again fired but at low temperatures.
Types of China-ware:
China-ware or Ceramics are generally grouped into three main categories: earthenware, stoneware and ceramics. In China they are grouped under 2 broad headings:
- High-fired China-ware
- Low-fired China-ware China-ware can also be divided into northern and southern China-ware. The geographical differences between the north and the south lead to the availability of different kinds of raw materials. Thus the main difference between the China-ware of the north and the south is that in composition. In the western countries porcelain is distinguished from other materials by virtue of its translucency, while in China any opaque piece of ware, which rings with a clear note when struck with something is identified as porcelain.
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