|  | |  | | | | | Much of the porcelain from Asia was blue designs on a white background. Porcelain was technologically superior to any ceramic that Europeans had developed, and even though Europeans‚ including the Spanish‚ copied design and color motifs, they did not successfully produce a ware that was technologically similar until sometime in the middle 1700s, roughly 250 years after they had first seen Asian porcelain. Unlike the tin-enameled wares, which had a paste underneath the enamel that could be scratched by a fingernail, porcelain was fired at much higher temperatures and was almost glassy in its hardness and appearance. Porcelain was much desired in both Europe and the Americas. The maximum dimension of the largest sherd at right is 4.2 cm. | | Photo credit: Don Sepulvado
Source: Williamson Museum, Northwestern State University, Natchitoches, Louisiana | |
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