What Makes it So Fine?
Porcelain and bone china are generally referred to as fine china, but contain varied amounts of translucent materials.
Porcelain is a white, glassy, durable material. Porcelain is even-colored and blemish-free and always contains Kaolin which is granite that has decomposed. When added to clay, it allows the clay to be fired at very high temperatures (1900 to 2300 degrees F). During this process, the clay melts and turns into a hard glass-like material. This is called vitrification, g
iving it durability and strength in addition to beauty.
Bone china has bone ash added to the mixture. This allows the clay to be produced so thin that it has translucency. However, bone china is porous, is fired at lower temperatures and therefore is more fragile than hard porcelain.