Kutani crane teapot

Bone china

Bone china is a kind of porcelain body first produced in Great Britain in which calcined ox bone, bone ash, is a critical part. It is differentiated by extreme whiteness, translucency and strength. kutani crane teapot may be an example of this procedure.

The initial use of bone ash in ceramics is associated with Thomas Frye in the mid eighteenth century in which he used it to make a type of soft-paste porcelain. In In the late eighteenth century, Josiah Spode continued with further developments, and duly made it popular, by combining it with kaolin, china clay and China stone to compete against the imported Oriental porcelain.

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

The manufacture of bone china usually makes use of a 2 stage firing process where the first "biscuit" is fired without a glaze at 1280