What is blue and white porcelain?
Blue and white porcelain, also commonly known as blue and white China, is a form of ceramics that has a white background, above which the blue design has been applied. Its history can be traced to China from the 14th century, where it was created using techniques of hands of painting and translucent glazing. In the 17th century, the blue and white porcelain became popular in Europe and a large effort to reproduce Chinese pieces was made. Missing raw materials and technical knowledge necessary to produce pieces in Chinese style, but European ceramics manufacturers were obliged to design new methods for creating blue and white products.
As its name suggests, blue and white porcelain is ceramics, which has a white background decorated with blue design. The range of porcelain items that correspond to this description is very wide. However, some of the most common forms of this type of ceramics are boards, bowls, cups and vases. Conventional patterns performed on bluemes white porcelain pieces include floral motifs, mythical creatures such as dragons, scenes from storiesand Chinese characters.
The history of blue and white porcelain can be traced to China from the 14th century. At this time, Chinese potters began to create objects from native white clay called kaolin. Once the items were hardened, the patterns were manually painted using the blue cobalt pigment, coated with clear glaze and then fired in an extremely hot furnace. After firing, the finished pieces were quite fine appearance, but also very durable. Since the 21st century, blue and white goods in China are still produced and bears such a strong connection with the nation that it is commonly referred to as blue and white China.
In the 17th century, the popular blue and white porcelain became popular in Europe, and ceramics manufacturers began to make extensive efforts to produce pieces very similar to Chinese goods. These manufacturers lacked both raw materials - namely Kaolin Clay - as well as the technical knowledge necessary to reproduce Chinese style. As a result they invented a new production technique that inykuku have their resources and abilities. Their pieces contained more stamped or shabby than hand -painted patterns and used opaque white glaze to hide the dark shade of European clay. Some European manufacturers of blue and white products, especially those in the Netherlands in Delft, and also in England, have achieved widespread popularity that continues to the 21st century.