Josephine gold round dish

Bone china

Bone china is a kind of porcelain body initially developed in Great Britain in which calcined ox bone, bone ash, is a major part. It is characterised by extreme whiteness, strength and translucency. josephine gold round dish may be an example of this process.

The first use of bone ash in ceramics is associated with Thomas Frye in 1748 in which he used it to develop a type of soft-paste porcelain. In Towards the end of the 18th century, Josiah Spode continued with further developments, and duly popularized it, by combining it with china clay, kaolin and China stone to compete with the imported Oriental porcelain.

The initial elemental recipe of six parts bone ash, four parts china stone, and three and a half parts china clay is still the standard English body.

Bone china production consistently uses a 2 stage firing where the initial "biscuit" is fired without a glaze at 1280