Fine porcelain is high-quality porcelain distinguished by its whiteness, translucency, thinness of potting, smooth glaze and the excellence of its decoration. The term is used for the best products of the great porcelain manufacturers of China, Japan and Europe, as opposed to everyday or utilitarian wares.
Porcelain was first developed in China, and Chinese and Japanese wares were imported to Europe in large quantities from the seventeenth century, inspiring European potters to discover its secret. Meissen in Saxony produced the first true European hard-paste porcelain in the early eighteenth century, followed by Vienna, Sèvres and many other factories. In England, soft-paste porcelain was made at Chelsea, Bow, Derby and Worcester, and bone china, developed towards the end of the eighteenth century and associated with Spode, became the standard English body. Fine porcelain is admired for its painted decoration, gilding, ground colours and modelling, and the finest pieces were often decorated by named artists. Collectors look for factory marks, crisp detail, unrubbed gilding and freedom from chips, cracks and restoration, which can be detected under ultraviolet light. Marks should be treated with caution, as many have been copied.
