Bone china

Bone china is type of porcelain body first developed in Britain in which calcined ox bone, bone ash, is a major constituent. It is characterised by high whiteness, translucency and strength.

The first use of bone ash in ceramics is attributed to Thomas Frye in 1748 to make a type of soft-paste porcelain. In the late 18th century, Josiah Spode undertook further developments, and subsequently popularised it, by mixing it with china clay, kaolin and China stone to compete with the imported Oriental porcelain.

Production usually involves a two stage firing where the first, biscuit, is without a glaze at 1280 °C (2336 °F) gives a translucent product and then glaze, or glost, fired at a lower temperature below 1080 °C (1976 °F).

See also

• Soft-paste porcelain
• Hard-paste porcelain

External links

• How Bone china works