Porcelain

True porcelain, the hard variety, is made from kaolin, quartz, and feldspar, fired at temperatures between 1300 and 1400 degrees.

The so-called “white gold” — of which the first reports in Europe came from daring sailors, merchants, and missionaries — is a millennia-old Chinese invention, the formula for which was discovered in Europe, after long studies and attempts, only at the beginning of the 18th century.