Trishka Makowski wrote about Marthe de Blenkinsop's
comments:
"I find it strange that it's not considered period... the
Germans have been
making Porcelain for at least 500 years... In Dresdin I
think.. I'll have
to double check. I learned this in my German
language class.. It may be
late in period, but it was in period. "

This is not entirely correct.  Although the Chinese had
been making porcelain since the 7th century at least,
and it had been obtained in Europe by trade since the
Crusades, it was not until the end of the 17th century
when manufacturing of true porcelain (soft frit
porcelain) started in St Cloud, France.  The formula
for hard porcelain (almost identical to Chinese
porcelain) was discovered in 1709 by Johann
Friedrich Bottger (umlauts over the o) in Meissen,
Saxony where it was kept a closely guarded secret. 
Prior to this time, Europeans made many only partially
successful attempts to reproduce porcelain.  Many of
these attempts would be very hard for anyone other
than an expert to distinguish.  I would like to say that it
was due to the technological prowess of the Chinese,
my persona, that they made it earlier but in truth, my
mundane persona as a Ph.D. clay mineralogist
makes me say that it was because they had a deposit
of a fortuitous composition.

Reference:
Rada, Pravoslav. 1989. Ceramic techniques, Hamlyn
Publ. Group, London.

HL Jin Liu Ch'ang
a.k.a. Norman White
email:gn-white@tamu.edu
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