About Bone China

   The so-called bone china was invented by the British in 1794. It gets its name from the addition of animal bones, such as those of cattle and sheep (best with cow bone powder), to the clay, making it an environmentally friendly green consumer product. The formation of bone china primarily relies on silicon dioxide, aluminum oxide, and calcium oxide, with the higher the content of calcium oxide, the better the color. In nature, the source of calcium oxide is not abundant, so animal bone powder is chosen as the source of calcium oxide.
Bone china has a natural cream-white color unique to natural bone powder. Generally, porcelain with 25% bone powder in the raw material can be called bone china. Internationally recognized, the bone powder content should be over 40%. The best quality bone china usually contains 51% high-quality beef bone powder. When the bone powder content is over 40%, the color of the utensils becomes even more milky white, which belongs to high-grade bone china.
After the gelling process, the molding, mold dehydration, and the initial firing, glaze firing, and decorating processes such as applying floral designs and baking are completed. The product is then fired at high temperatures to create porcelain with high whiteness, transparency, and fine porcelain quality. Bone china requires extremely high standards for its physical and chemical properties such as uniformity, whiteness, transparency, and thermal stability, leading to a high waste rate. Due to its meticulous materials, fine craftsmanship, and strict standards, bone china is more valuable than other types of porcelain. The unique firing process and the addition of bone charcoal eliminate impurities in the porcelain clay, making bone china appear whiter, finer, more transparent, lighter, and with fewer imperfections. It is also thinner than ordinary porcelain, giving it a special sense of cleanliness in appearance. The strength of bone china is higher than that of ordinary porcelain, which is twice as much for daily use. The higher the content of bone powder, the lower the content of clay, making it easier to crack during the production process. It requires higher technology in shaping, increasing the difficulty of firing, making it even more precious. Someone has conducted an experiment, placing four bone china cups under the wheels of a Rolls-Royce, and the four crystal clear cups were able to support the weight of a camper van!
High-end porcelain includes bone china, shell porcelain, pearl porcelain, etc. Due to the high cost of shell porcelain and pearl porcelain, there is almost no industrial production, so bone china is recognized as the highest grade of porcelain in the world.