Porcelain vessels are completely vitrified, which requires very high kiln temperatures that range between 1280 and 1400 degrees Celsius or higher (2336 and 2552 degrees Fahrenheit). During most the 17th century porcelains were not being made in Europe and all porcelains were imported from China[i]. By the end of the 17th century European potters develop porcelain varieties, but European made porcelains could not match the hardness of Chinese porcelains. French and German potters develop a soft-paste porcelain in the late 17th century. It isn’t until 1715 that the first high-fired porcelain was developed by German potter, Johann Bottger. English potters are making high-fired porcelains by the mid-18th century.[ii]

[i] Prudence M. Rice, Pottery Analysis: A Sourcebook (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, 1987), 5-7,82.

[ii] K.J. Barton, Pottery in England from 3500BC-AD 1730 (A.S. Barnes and Company, South Brunswick, UK, 1975), 128; Glenn C. Nelson, Ceramics: A Potter’s Handbook (University of Minnesota, Duluth, MN, 1971), 34-36; Ivor Noel Hume, A Guide to Artifacts of Colonial America (Vintage Books, New York, NY, 1991), 137; Rice, “Pottery Analysis”, 6-7.