white porcelain

Whiteware is a broad category of ceramic products that are white or off-white and often have a glassy component. These ceramics are valued for their impermeability to fluids, low electrical conductivity, chemical inertness, and ability to be shaped into complex forms. The primary raw materials used in whiteware production are clay, silica (flint), and feldspar.1

Porcelain is a type of whiteware that is vitrified, meaning it has a dense, non-porous body. It is typically white and fine-grained, often exhibiting translucency when held to light. Porcelain was first developed in China and is made from kaolin (white china clay) and petuntse (a feldspathic rock). The firing process, at high temperatures (around 1,450 °C or 2,650 °F), causes the petuntse to vitrify while the kaolin helps the object maintain its shape.23

Dehua porcelain, known as blanc de chine, is a famous type of Chinese white porcelain from Fujian province, particularly popular during the Ming dynasty. Western attempts to replicate Chinese porcelain led to the development of soft-paste porcelain, which uses a mixture of clay and ground glass and requires lower firing temperatures. Bone china, a variation developed in England, incorporates calcined bone ash into the porcelain formula, resulting in a strong, less chip-prone material with an ivory-white appearance.423