ABSTRACT
From a world historical perspective, Chinese porcelain is a quintessential globalizing commodity. For evidence of its success, one only has to consider the extent to which the word china has become naturalized in contemporary global culture to stand for a plethora of cups and plates used in communal dining. From a European perspective, a key period in the proliferation of porcelain was the eighteenth century. At this time, porcelain factories were established across the continent, notable examples including Meissen (Germany, 1709), Vienna (Austria, 1718), Rörstrand (Sweden, 1726), Vincennes and Sèvres (1740 and 1756, both France), Capo di Monte (Italy, 1743), Bow and Chelsea (1740s, England), Wedgwood (1759, England), Weesp (1759, Netherlands), and Copenhagen (1770s). While this phenomenon may be seen in the immediate context of the Industrial Revolution, the production of porcelain diered from many other industries in one key respect. Unlike many of the new products favoured in Europe at the time, mass-produced porcelain was a Chinese invention. Chinese porcelain had circulated in Europe for centuries before Europeans managed to successfully produce it for themselves, and even during the height of its production in the eighteenth century it is estimated that Chinese vessels in Europe still outnumbered the combined outputs of all the European factories (Godden 1979: 15).
