A great deal has been learned about Chinese porcelain through the studies of Pere D’Entrecolles, a French priest who lived at the court of the Emperor Kangxi (1662-1722). D’Entrecolles sent a number of letters back to France describing what he saw, namely that the Europeans could easily produce porcelain just as well if they only had the materials.

Porcelain is composed of two kinds of clay: petuntse and kaolin. Petuntse is pulverized rock taken from quarries and then shaped into bricks, which can be shipped to various cities. These bricks are broken with iron hammers, reduced to a fine powder, put into a vessel filled with water, and stirred vigorously. A kind of cream forms at the top, which is skimmed off and placed into a second vessel. The hard, heavy particles settle in the first vessel, and are re-pulverized. A paste settles to the bottom of the second vessel, which is the petuntse. Before it gets quite hard it is cut up into small bricks for shipping.

Kaolin, however, requires less labor. After being mined, it is made up into bricks in the same manner as petuntse. Fine porcelain owes its strength to kaolin.

The final element in the production of Chinese porcelain is the glaze, or “tsi,” in Chinese. To make the glaze, generally the whitest stone is used, prepared like petuntse, and mixed with quicklime and water. The best glazes are made from a mixture of ten parts of the stone glaze with one part of the glaze of lime and fern ashes. Out of these materials the most beautiful porcelain has been produced, especially during the reign of the art-loving Emperor Kangxi.