Derzhavnye watches on a stand

Whiter than frost and snow, more ringing than jade – the poet from the Celestial Empire, who praised porcelain, did not skimp on epithets! Among the great inventions of China, porcelain claims to be, if not the most important, then the most beautiful.

The secret of making porcelain dishes was kept in the strictest secrecy. Attempts to find her out were punishable by death. However, porcelain exported first to Asian countries, and by the 16th century to Europe, was valued above gold. Scientists and masters from all over the world struggled to uncover his secret.

The complex technology of kneading porcelain mass, which includes kaolin, quartz and mica, and equally complex firing are just the basics learned from the Chinese. Japanese, Florentine, and Prussian porcelain manufactories added something of their own to this base, producing beautiful porcelain in their own way, although different from the original.